this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2025
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I know at Lemmy we usually don't read the article title and sure as hell won't read the actual article, so I'll just post this here for everyone: nowhere in the article does it say they are laying people off because of AI. It merely states 9000 people will be laid off, and separately MSFT has invested a lot in AI.
A better reframe: huge tech company shifts focus.
I get that, but there are other articles saying the same if not pushing it worse... My point is they are investing large amounts in AI and not people, refocus if you like but for many people AI isn't what they want. Mind you neither is office or Windows....
Don't they lay this amount off every year?
Their workforce is upwards of 200,000. During COVID it was only 100,000. 2006 it was 60,000. But they lay off 9000 and it's because of AI?
Why is this AI and not just business as usual?
I've been saying for a bit that these AI headlines in Lemmy are similar to anti immigrant headlines in Republican social media groups. I feel like this is just more evidence of it. It's yellow journalism tactics
Because a lot of the jobs are simply going as they have replaced people with AI. Here in the UK I know about 25000 jobs gone this year with businesses I've worked for as they are replaced with AI. Of course, I have about 90% less work this year as well because of AI
Another factor is Section 174 and the hiring of H1B workers. Although Microsoft's official AI website lists many job openings, you're right that it's changing its focus, it's strange that they're changing focus so quickly. First it was the metaverse, then video games, and now it's AI. What's next? Quantum computing in the coming years, and pouring tons of money into it as if there were no tomorrow.
It seems like tech companies are going through a midlife crisis, as are their shareholders, who want to be on the cutting edge and end up executing poorly. But they want to be on this trend because they don't want to be in the same situation as Apple, which wasn't on the cutting edge and its shareholders are suing it.
Apple is being sued because they announced and demonstrated all of these AI features and then never delivered. They are actually doing good work in the AI field, including a recent paper that demonstrates that AI/LLM technology is incapable of reasoning, and any apparent logic seen in current approaches is simply an illusion. It’s not that they “aren’t moving fast enough”, it’s that they intentionally lied about their capabilities and timelines.
This is cover for the fact that they have zero planning and over hired during covid. And now with the tariffs and impending economic downturn, they are nodding and winning that this is because of AI and not that the management teams are terrible at the things they are responsible for (forecasting and budgeting).