Microsoft’s chief industrial officer Judson Althoff stated throughout a presentation this week that AI instruments are boosting productiveness throughout gross sales, customer support, and software program engineering, Bloomberg studies. Althoff famous AI has been so helpful that Microsoft was in a position to save greater than $500 million final yr in its name middle alone.
The interior 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 overall 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 among its most worthwhile quarters but, Althoff’s remarks may come off as tone deaf.
The scenario had already been difficult by a now-deleted LinkedIn put up from Xbox Recreation Studios’ producer Matt Turnbull, who final week recommended that employees feeling “overwhelmed” by Microsoft’s layoffs — which included job cuts throughout Xbox — may discover help via 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 characterize 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 current months to round $3.74 trillion, displacing Apple and trailing solely Nvidia.
Microsoft has signaled that a lot of that revenue will circulation instantly into AI. The corporate stated in January it could 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 High AI Researchers The Most?” In brief, it’s extra doubtless we’ll see Microsoft spend tens of millions of {dollars} on high AI researchers slightly than center managers and different workers.
