In December 2025, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella subtly but significantly changed how he describes the company’s artificial intelligence journey. After years of calling the AI boom “early innings,” Nadella has now declared Microsoft to be in the “middle innings.” The shift, revealed through internal memos and reports cited by Business Insider, is more than wordplay—it’s a message to leadership that the experimentation phase is over and execution now matters most.
From Experimentation to Execution
Throughout 2023 and 2024, Microsoft framed AI as a long game still in its opening stages. That language gave teams room to test, iterate, and explore use cases across products like Copilot, Azure AI, and OpenAI-powered services. By late 2025, however, Nadella’s tone had hardened. Calling this the “middle innings” signals that the company must now scale what works, eliminate distractions, and deliver measurable impact.
According to people familiar with the discussions, Nadella is demanding “laser focus” and “unprecedented intensity” from his leadership team. He has warned executives that the coming phase involves a “mountain of work,” and that those unwilling to commit fully should reconsider their roles. In cricket terms, the middle innings are where matches are often won or lost—through discipline, stamina, and smart execution.
A Deliberately “Messy” Management Approach
To support this new phase, Nadella has reshaped how Microsoft’s AI leadership operates. One of the most notable changes is the introduction of weekly AI accelerator meetings that intentionally exclude senior management. Instead, Nadella meets directly with engineers and technical contributors working closest to the problems.
These sessions are described as intentionally “messy and chaotic.” The goal is to avoid polished, top-down narratives and surface unfiltered truths about technical bottlenecks, infrastructure limits, and model performance. By bypassing layers of management, Nadella aims to keep Microsoft grounded in reality as AI systems grow more complex and costly.
To further protect his focus on AI research and strategy, Nadella recently promoted Judson Althoff to CEO of Microsoft’s commercial business. This move allows Nadella to spend more time on what he considers the company’s most critical long-term challenge: advancing AI science at scale.
Why Cricket Matters to Nadella
The “middle innings” metaphor also reflects Nadella’s personal passion for cricket. During a December 2025 visit to India, he revealed that he spent Thanksgiving building a Deep Research AI app to analyze cricket statistics. The app used reasoning chains to select an all-time Indian Test XI, controversially naming Virat Kohli as captain over MS Dhoni based on impact metrics.
That blend of data, discipline, and long-term thinking mirrors Nadella’s leadership philosophy. For Microsoft, the message is clear: the AI match is far from over—but the hardest overs have already begun.
