On Tuesday, Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft was asked by Gartner analysts to provide answers to the implications of the invasion of privacy of LinkedIn which it acquired for $26.2 billion as well for Cortana, its virtual assistant that is all-knowing.
Of all the analysts present at the conference where Nadella was questioned, Helen Huntley seemed very much interested in getting answers to the concerns raised. She said that Cortana knew everything she is up to when making use of her computer like what she is working on, what she is downloading, and when she is not working, adding that Cortana is like one big brother that is intersected but with productivity.
To the questions, Nadella was quick to ask the question of how humans can build trust with technology which has a pressing issue in our time. He said that Cortana will be operating on “4 pillars” that will entail maintaining transparency, securing data, a choice to turn it off and thus preventing it from having access to your data and the fourth for it to always comply with the set regulations.
The CEO was speaking from a video link made available from the company’s headquarters in Redmond due to a back injury that prevented him from being physically present at the event.
To that of LinkedIn, he said that their company was just a custodian of the data there and can only have access to such data when users allow them access for the single purpose of adding more value to it.
He added that with a calendar that has an inclusion of a LinkedIn profile will help people know the people they are in a meeting with and extra information about the participants at the meeting. He said that such integration will not be the exclusive preserve of the company but that of everyone.
Nadella pointed out that Microsoft Windows is the platform with the most openness that cannot be found on any other platform.
When asked how the company will work with other rivals such as Azure, he said that it was unavoidable to at a stage come to terms with relationships that may be complex.
In a response to how A.I. intends to interact with the users, he said that there was still an unclear side to it with a risk of a life that is over-mediated. He, however, said that the work of A.I. is to make easier for humans and to take over from humans.
