At WEF Davos, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella shared an anecdote of an Indian farmer using an early AI bot to navigate government subsidies, highlighting AI's potential to empower individuals in the Global South and restore 'agency'.
Pointing to how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being used across the world, beyond advanced countries, Microsoft Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella recalled an Indian farmer who adopted AI to address problems. Speaking of AI diffusion across the world, particularly the Global South, Naddella said that as early as early 2023, the rural Indian farmer used a simple AI-powered bot to navigate government farm subsidies in his local language.
"It was at the beginning of 2023, a rural Indian farmer was able to use a bot built, I think very early GPT 3 or 2.5 even, essentially to reason over some farm subsidies that he had heard about in a local language," he recalled. The farmer not only sought information but asked the tool to complete forms on his behalf, an example, Nadella said, of how AI can restore "agency" to people previously excluded from digital systems.
Ensuring Rapid and Equitable AI Diffusion
In conversation with BlackRock Chair and CEO Laurence D. Fink at the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2026 in Davos, Nadella stressed that the most pressing challenge around AI is ensuring its rapid and equitable diffusion across the world. "I think when it comes to AI, the real question in front of all of us is how do you ensure that the diffusion of AI happens, and happens fast," Nadella said.
He emphasised that data, models, and infrastructure must spread more evenly to create economic surplus across regions, particularly in the Global South.
AI's Place Among Transformative Technologies
Drawing parallels with past technological revolutions, Nadella noted that every major computing era, from mainframes and minicomputers to client-server systems, the web, mobile, and cloud, was fundamentally about digitising information and improving analytical and predictive power. AI, he said, belongs to the same class of transformative technologies and may prove even more impactful.
"In that context, I would say that AI is of the same class, like the web or the internet, or mobile, or PC, or cloud, or maybe even greater," he said. Nadella highlighted rapid advancements in AI's reasoning and prediction capabilities, as well as its growing ability to take action and remain coherent over long periods. These improvements, he added, should ultimately help "bend the productivity curve" and generate widespread economic gains.
The Role of Leadership in AI Adoption
However, Nadella cautioned that widespread adoption of AI is closely linked to skilling and leadership. He called for coordinated efforts from both the private and public sectors to ensure that AI tools are accessible and usable across societies. "I feel ultimately it's going to require real leadership from the private sector, the public sector, to ensure the diffusion happens," he said. (ANI)
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