Microsoft CEO says to move past AI 'slop' debate

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said 2026 should mark a turning point away from the "slop versus sophistication" debate, urging the tech industry to stop arguing over AI output quality and focus instead on delivering real benefits in everyday life.

In a year-end note on his public blog, Nadella argued that this focus on output quality misses the larger point.

"What matters is not the power of any given model, but how people choose to apply it to achieve their goals," he wrote, describing the current moment as a "model overhang", where AI's raw technical capability is moving faster than society's ability to use it productively.

Rather than treating AI as either a miracle solution or an existential threat, Nadella urged companies to view it as "scaffolding for human potential", not a substitute for people.

He said the next phase of development should centre on building advanced systems that can safely coordinate multiple AI models and digital agents, manage memory and permissions, and support complex tasks in the real world.

Nadella also warned that public trust will depend on whether AI produces visible, practical results. "For AI to have societal permission, it must have real-world impact," he wrote. "The choices we make about where we apply our scarce energy, compute, and talent resources will matter."

He concluded by acknowledging that progress will be uneven, calling it "a messy process of discovery", but insisted the core mission remains the same: empowering people and organisations to achieve more.

The word "slop" was recently named Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year for 2025. The dictionary defines it as "digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence", a label increasingly used to describe the surge of awkward videos, recycled images, synthetic books, and online propaganda generated by AI tools.