Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated that in the age of artificial intelligence, companies must develop not only human capital but also "token capital"—AI systems that accumulate the knowledge and experience of the organization.
— Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) June 14, 2026
In a programmatic article about the future of business, Nadella described the current stage of AI development as the largest transformation of the corporate environment since the advent of digital technologies. He believes that for the first time, companies have the opportunity to create a continuous learning cycle between people and intelligent systems.
AI Will Become Part of Companies' Intellectual Capital
The Microsoft chief categorized organizational assets into two types. Human capital includes employee knowledge, professional connections, experience, and decision-making abilities. Token capital, according to Nadella, refers to AI systems owned by the company that learn from internal data, processes, and accumulated expertise.
He argues that the goal for businesses is not to find the most powerful model but to create their own environment of continuous learning that allows them to preserve and scale corporate knowledge, regardless of the AI solutions used.
A New Asset Will Be the 'Learning Cycle'
Nadella believes that companies should transform workflows, accumulated experience, and professional solutions into agent-based AI systems that can improve with each use.
He described such systems as a new type of intellectual property. Unlike traditional assets, they can continuously accumulate value through interaction between employees and artificial intelligence.
Microsoft Warns of AI Monopolization Risks
Nadella also highlighted the danger of value concentration among a limited number of developers of foundational models.
According to him, the economy cannot sustainably develop in a scenario where a few AI platforms benefit from the knowledge of entire industries. Instead, he advocates for the formation of a broad AI ecosystem where each company retains control over its own data, knowledge, and learning systems.
In Nadella's view, long-term business success will be determined by the ability to simultaneously grow human and token capital, transforming employee expertise into scalable AI systems.
It is worth noting that TechCrunch concluded that a shift to payment based on the number of tokens could signal a reevaluation of prices and limits in the AI product market.