Microsoft axe another 9000 in continued AI push
Microsoft has confirmed it is to axe another 9000 with its continued push into AI. I just find it incredible because for me AI is NOT the answer in any way shape or form.....
I thought the new tax cuts for billionaires were going to create more jobs…
With all the deportations of illegal immigrants there will be tons of open jobs (that pay next to nothing).
What a time to bail and get as far away from MS products as possible.
Weird. The cuts apparently include cancellation of several games that were planned and many of them will hit the Xbox division.
I would've thought that the increased productivity that Copilot theoretically gives developers would have resulted in the reduced staff still being able to finish those games.
Yeah, from that perspective this reads roughly like when the Zoom CEO started forcing his own people back into the office. Basically tells the market that your company has no real faith in the claims it makes about its products.
The thing is, if they just pared those claims down a bit, they'd be accurate. Switch from "Copilot can build an entire application for you from scratch while giving you a blowjob" to "Copilot can help developers by automating some repetitive and time-consuming tasks," and you still have a good thing.
I think this doesn't really make sense for MS as a cost saving measure. It is a signal in order to sell copilot and other snaike oil to other companies hoping to cut costs.
I often wonder these days why anyone would have any interest in working for the likes of Microsoft or the other big names. Unless I am just severely underestimating how good that comp package is it seems like knowing you will get the ax within 5 years of your start date more than likely would really dump cold water on the whole affair.
Yeah my friend is dating a Google recruiter and he overhears some absurd offers. Like, a reasonable person could retire on a few years at that salary.
I have a hypothesis that rich people are bad at money
I work at big tech (not MS) and yes, the comp package really is that good, though not as good as it used to be. I immediately doubled my total comp when I came here from my last job, and now it's ~5x. I could retire right now if I wanted, so I don't care about layoffs anymore.
AI might be a convenient excuse but it is my understanding this all relates to a change in US tax code that no longer allows a company to write off research and development.
My favorite thing about Microsoft is that there's no longer anyone who works there that understands the windows compiling process and internal tools. Everything is built on top of the previous version of windows going back decades.
Hopefully this fosters a bunch of new software from these developers if hired at other companies or working freelance/solo/whatever.
Not in my experience, jobs are just being lost to AI overall, as in the are simply replaced by AI. Here in the UK had whole departments replaced by AI like copywriters and summarising jobs
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
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).