Microsoft CEO wants to ditch the "AI slop" talk
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is over the hype and wants tech to move past "AI slop"—a term for all those low-quality, repetitive or misleading AI outputs that flooded 2025 (and even became Merriam-Webster's word of the year).
In his year-end blog, Nadella said it's time to stop chasing flashy demos and start building AI that's actually useful, credible, and socially acceptable, and that delivers measurable real-world benefits.
Why this matters:
Nadella called 2025 a wake-up year, showing just how far cool AI demos are from helping people in daily life.
He brought back Steve Jobs's idea of computers as "bicycles for the mind," but pointed out that AI only truly helps when it's designed well and works naturally with humans—not just because it's powerful.
What's next for AI (according to Nadella):
He thinks the future isn't about one big model doing everything.
Instead, we'll need smarter systems—mixing models with memory, agents, and strong safeguards—to make sure AI is both useful at scale and earns society's trust.
It's a cautious shift after Microsoft poured billions into AI but still faced criticism for features that didn't quite land.