Microsoft CEO: It's our job to prevent '1984' from coming true

If we keep heading down the path we're going, there's a decent chance the surveillance state from George Orwell's 1984 future will come true.

Kicking off Microsoft's Build developers conference on Wednesday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said it's up to developers to prevent that from happening.

First borrowing a line from Spider-Man, Nadella said, "With great technology comes great responsibility."

"I do believe it's up to us to ensure that some of the more dystopian scenarios don't come true," Nadella continued.

"Building trust in technology is crucial. It starts with us taking accountability for the algorithms we make, the experiences we create, and ensuring there is more trust in technology with each day."

Nadella threw up a slide with 1984 and Brave New World to drive his point home:

"Neither of these futures is something that we want. So the question is: What are we going to do? What are the practical ways we can make progress?"

In typical wise Nadella fashion, the CEO said the company's thinking deeply about building toolsets that help empower users through AI, Windows 10, Internet of Things, its various collaborative tools such as Microsoft Teams, and more.