Concerning Certain Fortunes

Microsoft, that behemoth of Redmond, has, in recent times, become something of a facilitator. A most peculiar role, really. Rather than attempting to build the entire clockwork mechanism of artificial intelligence itself – a task requiring resources that would bankrupt a small principality – it has instead chosen to rent out the workshop. It provides the tools, the space, the very air in which these digital contraptions are assembled. This, it seems, is a most profitable arrangement. Azure, its cloud division, hums with activity, a veritable hive of computational bees. In the last quarter, it swelled by 39%, a figure that would impress even the most hardened accountant. And yet, the market, in its infinite wisdom, seems to regard this progress with a shrug.







