Nadella is adamant that these kinds of boosts that AI provides will justify AI and carry the industry, stressing less spectacular and more practical applications of the tech.

This is a huge about-face on the earlier proclamation. I really wonder what changed his mind from "AI will radically transform every industry" to "it doesn’t need to be used to discover the 'magical molecule,' but provide some other tangible, less extraordinary benefit to developing the product."

Sure, everyone here has seen the writing on the wall for years, but until now his paycheck has depended on him not seeing it. I wonder if he's getting internal pressure from some on the board of directors.