Be responsible, focus on inclusivity: Nadella

BENGALURU: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on Tuesday said developers should focus on ethics and building trust when developing solutions to ensure that the benefits of technology are available for everyone.

The India-born executive also highlighted that developers should work with diverse teams, so that "unconscious biases" do not creep into the models used for developing artificial intelligence (AI).

"Technology is becoming so ubiquitous and pervasive in society in our lives. (It) also comes with responsibility. Every single choice of developer around design ethos, the ethics of the diverse team are going to matter in terms of are we going to create a more inclusive world?" Nadella said.

He further said the question that needs to be kept in mind is that would these solutions be used for prosperity across industries like retail, healthcare and agriculture or "is it just going to be a narrow sliver of society?"

"I think inclusivity around the surplus that gets created by digital technology, is going to be important," he told an audience comprising developers, partners and customers.

There are about 4.2 million developers in India and the country is poised to become the numero uno destination for such talent in the coming years, said Microsoft.

Nadella, who is on a threeday trip to India, pointed out that platform developers are "first responders" and have to develop trust into technology.

"Every bank that builds an app will have to deal with trust, and trust around AI and the AI models they deploy. The core cybersecurity of their asset, their customers' data...if there is a real currency of the next 10 years, (it) is how diverse and inclusive your teams are that are building all these technologies - gender diversity, ethnic diversity - because there is no protection against unconscious bias other than diversity," he said.