While the likes of OpenAI and Alibaba are talking up artificial general intelligence (AGI) capable of replacing humans, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella argues AI's success should be measured by its benefit to the global economy which may come once the technology finds a killer app to match the impact of email or Excel."Us self-claiming some AGI milestone, that's just nonsensical benchmark hacking," the chief executive said during an appearance on podcaster Dwarkesh Patel's YouTube show this month.Nadella thinks a better benchmark for AI's success should be its ability to boost a country's gross domestic product. "When we say: 'Oh, this is like the industrial revolution,' let's have that industrial revolution type of growth. That means to me, 10 percent, seven percent for the developed world. Inflation adjusted, growing at five percent, that's the real marker."Few nations achieved that pace of growth in 2024.Nadella suggested that growth hasnt eventuated because it's going to take time before folks understand how to use AI effectively, assuming they find a use for it just as it took some years for the personal computer to find its feet."Just imagine how a multinational corporation like us did forecasts pre-PC, and email, and spreadsheets. Faxes went around, somebody then got those faxes and then did an inter-office memo that then went around, and people entered numbers, and then ultimately a forecast came out maybe just in time for the next quarter," Nadella explained.Who said my life's goal is to triage my email?"Then somebody said: 'Hey, I'm just going to take an Excel spreadsheet, put it in an email, send it around, people will go edit it, and I'll have a forecast.' The entire forecasting business process changed because the work artifact and the workflow changed. That is what needs to happen with AI being introduced into knowledge work," the CEO said.Investors who have watched Microsoft spend billions on AI infrastructure, and announce plans to spend tens of billions more, may find Nadellas view that artificial intelligence is yet to find a niche concerning.Even after AI finds its place at work, Nadella doesn't think it will outright replace knowledge workers."Don't conflate knowledge worker with knowledge work," he said. "The knowledge work of today could probably be automated, [but] who said my life's goal is to triage my email?"Instead, he argues AI agents will allow workers to focus on higher-value tasks. Whether this is actually how it'll play out, or whether enterprises will take this as an opportunity to reduce costs by cutting staff remains to be seen.Do you have any reservations or fears about the way your organization is using AI? Tell us in confidence here, or via Signal securely: tobiasmann.01Even if AGI or so called "AI superintelligence" theoretical machines with cognitive capabilities that exceed human brainpower turn out to be more than hype, Nadella still doesn't expect them to replace humans anytime soon due to legal issues."Today, you cannot deploy these intelligences unless and until there's someone indemnifying it as a human," he said.