Confessing his deepest fears to the World Economic Forum in Davos, he said that superfast quantum computers were needed to solve some of the most challenging problems.

He said that the quest to create a catalyst that can absorb carbon, to help tackle climate change could not be managed without an increase in computer processing power.

"Moore's Law is kinda running out of steam", Nadella told the assembled throngs, and added that quantum computing was needed "to create all of these rich experiences we talk about, all of this artificial intelligence".

The top Vole attacked so-called "re-skilling programmes" that don't cater to the needs of the job market, calling them "one of the greatest wastes of money".

Such schemes, which are designed to retrain those whose professions have been lost to globalisation or automation, are often "done without a true understanding of where the labour market is going", Mr Nadella argued.

Instead, the world needs to reform school curricula to make sure that people graduating from schools will be comfortable with augmented realities.

"The fact that most curricula in schools still don't recognise computer science like they do maths or physics is just crazy."