Microsoft’s chief industrial officer Judson Althoff mentioned throughout a presentation this week that AI instruments are boosting productiveness throughout gross sales, customer support, and software program engineering, Bloomberg stories. Althoff famous AI has been so helpful that Microsoft was in a position to save greater than $500 million final yr in its name heart alone.
The inner remarks come every week after Microsoft laid off greater than 9,000 employees, the corporate’s third spherical of layoffs this yr that put the full variety of affected workers someplace round 15,000.
For workers who misplaced their jobs whereas working at an organization that’s reporting spectacular cost-savings and recording one in every of its most worthwhile quarters but, Althoff’s remarks may come off as tone deaf.
The state of affairs had already been sophisticated by a now-deleted LinkedIn put up from Xbox Sport Studios’ producer Matt Turnbull, who final week urged that employees feeling “overwhelmed” by Microsoft’s layoffs — which included job cuts throughout Xbox — may discover help by AI instruments like ChatGPT and Copilot to assist handle the cognitive load that comes with job loss.
It’s not clear whether or not the 1000’s of employees who misplaced their jobs this yr have been changed by AI or whether or not the layoffs signify post-pandemic right-sizing. What is obvious is that workforce changes throughout a interval of document profitability creates a difficult dynamic that, for some, has to sting.
Microsoft closed out the primary quarter with $26 billion in revenue and $70 billion in income. The corporate’s market capitalization has additionally surged in latest months to round $3.74 trillion, displacing Apple and trailing solely Nvidia.
Microsoft has signaled that a lot of that revenue will circulate instantly into AI. The corporate mentioned in January it will make investments $80 billion into AI infrastructure throughout 2025. Whereas Microsoft continues to rent expertise, too, the corporate seems positioned to extra actively take part within the industrywide competitors of “Who Can Pay Prime AI Researchers The Most?” In brief, it’s extra possible we’ll see Microsoft spend thousands and thousands of {dollars} on high AI researchers relatively than center managers and different workers.
