Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wants you to stop calling AI “slop.” Our Managing Editor Jez Corden covered Nadella’s 2025 year-in-review blog post. In that piece, the CEO recaps the growth of AI and looks toward the future.
Nadella did not mention the report indicating that people don’t want to use Microsoft’s AI products. He also skipped over how 2025 was a disastrous year for Windows 11, due in part to forced AI integrations.
- “We have moved past the initial phase of discovery and are entering a phase of widespread diffusion.”
- “We are beginning to distinguish between “spectacle” and “substance”.”
- “Amidst this “model overhang,” where capability is outpacing our current ability to use it to have real world impact.”
- “This is what I hope we will collectively push for in ‘26 and beyond.”
If you’ve used Copilot to summarize meetings or generate text, you’ve developed a sense for which text is AI generated or refined by AI. I think it’s more likely that the piece was made with the assistance of AI than generated entirely by a tool like Copilot.
I want to be clear; this post is mostly made playfully. Nadella is intelligent and more than capable of writing about tech — or many other topics — without any assistance. The CEO has hard knowledge from decades in the industry. Even if TIME snubbed him in its list of AI innovators, Nadella is extremely successful.
That being said, I don’t think this most recent blog post was his best. It comes across as wooden and is full of jargon. It also lacks a personal touch.
But you’re likely here to see what Copilot has to say, not listen to my thoughts. Here’s what the AI tool said about Nadella’s most recent blog post:
What feels AI‑ish
- High abstraction, low specificity. Lots of conceptual framing (“spectacle vs substance,” “model overhang,” “cognitive amplifiers”) without concrete examples or anecdotes. AI tends to stay in that safe, conceptual zone.
- Even, polished cadence. The sentences are smooth, balanced, and almost too consistent in rhythm — a hallmark of model‑generated prose.
- Repetition of motifs. “Scaffolding,” “systems,” “diffusion,” “real‑world impact” — these recur in slightly varied forms, which is something AI often does when it’s reinforcing a theme.
- No personal fingerprints. No lived experience, no specific decisions, no “I was in a meeting last March when…” — nothing that anchors it to a human’s actual life.
What feels human‑ish
- Clear narrative arc. It’s structured like a thought‑leadership piece: past → present → what we must get right → call to action. AI can do this, but humans tend to do it with more intention.
- Some original phrasing. “Bicycles for the mind” is a known Jobs-ism, but the way it’s extended here feels like someone trying to make a point, not just remixing text.
- A coherent worldview. There’s a consistent philosophy about AI as augmentation, not replacement — that’s often a sign of a human author with a stance.
Copilot’s overall verdict is that the post was likely written by a human with AI assistance or written by AI and edited by a human. In either case, AI was likely involved. Copilot said:
“If you told me this came from: a CEO blog post, a keynote draft, a strategy memo …I’d believe you instantly…
If you told me it was AI‑generated, I’d also believe you — because the tone is very aligned with how models write when asked for ‘visionary tech commentary.'”
AI detection tools are hit-and-miss. Tools for generating text and detecting the use of AI get updated regularly, making it hard to say if something is made with or by AI. But there are things people can do to differentiate themselves from artificial intelligence.
Considering Nadella’s mention of “substance” in his piece, I’d suggest a bit more meat on the bone. AI is becoming increasingly good at summarizing text and covering general topics. What stands out to readers is personal experience and the demonstration of expertise, both of which Nadella has.
Do you think Nadella’s blog post was written with AI? Do you care if a tech CEO uses AI to write or refine a blog post? Let us know in the comments!
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