No, Microsoft Didn't Lay Off So Many People Because of "AI" "Innovation" or "Efficiency" or "Era" or "Revolution" Etc.
Debunking one very common lie that Microsoft parrots repeated a lot (we saw dozens of them yesterday and today*), this wave of layoffs has nothing to do with performance but it's everything to do with financial issues (the media repeats false claims of financial prosperity as a contrast and absurdity) and for the second time this year Microsoft is laying off many people in "AI" (slop):
Last month Microsoft shut down its "AI Lab" [1, 2].
Smelling a giant bubble yet? █
__________
* Here is one example among many more:
Headline says it all.. Yes, they fire "AI" people... to "INVEST"... in "AI"!
Makes sense!
Update: 20 minutes ago somebody wrote that "AI isn't taking jobs, this is cost cutting. Satya claims 30%+ of code is written by AI at MSFT but this is basically false. A 20-year MSFT veteran was cut from my team, not for performance or because AI could do his job, but I guarantee because he was expensive."
Minutes apart another person said: "There is no QA at Microsoft, and there hasn't been for 10 years. Testing is whatever the devs do themselves before checkin, and if you're lucky, whatever automation they can write in their spare time."
So testing or quality are just "luxuries" now.