Quote of the day by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella: 'We have to do something useful with AI, or we'll quickly lose social permission'

As the AI buildout continues and models improve from generation to generation, fears persist over how useful this technology will actually be in practice and whether AI will reach a ceiling before it makes a meaningful impact.

<![CDATA[ <article> <p>As the AI buildout continues and models improve from generation to generation, fears persist over how useful this technology will actually be in practice and whether AI will reach a ceiling before it makes a meaningful impact. </p><p>Although roles and responsibilities, and jobs, are being replaced in the name of AI, does that mean it's changing things for the better? </p><h2 id="energy-scarcity">Energy scarcity</h2><p>Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1co3zt3-r7I" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">speaking at the World Economic Forum</a> in Davos in 2026 about the impact of AI on the global economy and the business world.</p><div class="fancy-box"><div class="fancy_box-title">Quote of the day</div><div class="fancy_box_body"><p class="fancy-box__body-text">This article is part of TechRadar Pro's QOTD project to provide an insight into the minds of the brightest and most recognized figures in the technology industry today and in years gone by. <a data-analytics-id="inline-link" href="https://www.techradar.com/tag/qotd">Read the full series here</a>.</p></div></div><p>In his remarks, Nadella acknowledged the tensions at the heart of the AI expansionism that has captured not only big tech but the vast majority of the corporate world. </p><p>For AI to continue growing at the pace it has been – not just in terms of the compute required to train the models but also for inference as usage grows – we'll need plenty of data centers to churn through tokens. And for these tokens to be created, the AI pioneers will need plenty of energy.</p><h2 id="encountering-bottlenecks">Encountering bottlenecks </h2><p>Burning as much electricity as AI companies plan on doing so for AI has caused alarm among the public – particularly as much of this has demanded infrastructure built close to populated areas in towns and cities. </p><p>Nadella acknowledged there has been a productivity gap between the hype around AI and the meaningful impact on people's lives – warning that without something to point to, unrest will bubble up and boil over into something more obstructive.</p><p>As time passed, we're seeing <a href="https://www.techradar.com/pro/controversial-north-wales-data-center-the-size-of-57-football-pitches-sees-opposition-from-tens-of-thousands" target="_blank">more tensions rise</a> as people – and even legislators – object to new data center projects due to concerns over the impact on the energy grid, the <a href="https://www.techradar.com/pro/need-for-data-centres-outweighs-other-considerations-local-council-in-the-london-commuter-belt-approves-amazons-massive-m25-hub-despite-air-quality-fears" target="_blank">environmental damage</a>, and local communities.</p><div style="min-height: 250px;"> <div class="kwizly-quiz kwizly-OdvAJe"></div> </div> <script src="https://kwizly.com/embed/OdvAJe.js" async></script> </article> ]]>