LinkedIn hits 1.2 billion members as AI drives next wave of growth: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella

LinkedIn has reached 1.2 billion members globally, marking another milestone for the professional networking platform as it deepens its integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into hiring, sales, and learning tools, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said.

Microsoft’s gaming platforms combined have more than 500 million active users per month, which is indicative of the company’s growing presence in both the professional and entertainment sectors.

‘A generational moment in technology’

In his Annual Letter 2025, Nadella described how Microsoft is at the center of a “generational transformation” powered by AI. “Fifty years after our founding, Microsoft is once again at the heart of a generational moment in technology as we find ourselves in the midst of the AI platform shift,” he wrote.

According to Nadella, AI is reshaping every layer of technology, prompting Microsoft to adapt its platforms, products, and corporate culture to stay ahead of the curve.

The company’s latest financial year saw record performance, with revenue climbing 15 per cent to $281.7 billion. Its cloud business, Azure, surpassed $75 billion in annual revenue for the first time, a sign of the growing enterprise demand for AI-enabled cloud infrastructure.

Microsoft Copilot AI tools now have over 100 million people using them every month for work, studies, and personal use. Tools like Microsoft 365 Copilot and GitHub Copilot help people and developers work faster, while the new Agent Mode lets users create complex tasks with just a few simple commands.

On the consumer side, Nadella said Microsoft’s AI companion Copilot is now integrated across Bing, Edge, Windows, GroupMe, and Xbox, creating a unified, conversational experience. “We also refreshed our Copilot consumer app this year as a more natural, conversational, and personal AI companion,” Nadella noted.

He also emphasised Microsoft’s long-term commitment to responsible AI and education. Through the Microsoft Elevate initiative, the company plans to invest $4 billion over the next five years to expand AI education and cloud access across schools, universities, and non-profits globally.

Meanwhile, LinkedIn founder and Microsoft board member Reid Hoffman has cautioned that Silicon Valley’s deep-rooted focus on software could make it miss the next big AI breakthroughs.

Speaking on the a16z podcast, Hoffman said the tech industry’s “everything should be done in software” mindset, once its biggest strength, could now become a limitation. “What are the areas where the AI revolution will be magical?” he asked, adding that his current focus is on co-founding ventures that push AI into new frontiers.

Hoffman pointed to biology and healthcare as sectors poised for AI-driven disruption. He believes AI could guide scientists toward the most promising experiments, accelerating research even when predictions are right only a small fraction of the time. “This is not a needle in a haystack; it’s like a needle in a solar system,” Hoffman explained.

He argued that the next iconic AI companies might not emerge from the traditional software industry but from complex, heavily regulated sectors like healthcare or biotechnology. “I’ve been thinking about the intersection of the worlds of atoms and the worlds of bits,” he said. “What are things that elevate human life?”