An Xbox producer has responded to the latest round of job cuts by telling laid-off employees to seek comfort and support from AI – the very technology driving job losses at the tech giant, reports the BBC.
US tech multinational Microsoft announced a new round of cuts less than a week ago, slashing up to 9,000 workers from across several divisions. Reporting suggests that its Xbox video gaming unit, as well as Forza Motorsport maker Turn 10 and Elder Scrolls Online developer ZeniMax Online Studios, will be affected. Microsoft-owned studio the Initiative will be shut down entirely, taking with it a planned reboot of its first-person shooter series Perfect Dark. Rare Studio’s Everwild suffered the same fate.
Even independent studios like Galway-based Romero Games Ltd were forced to cut staff after Microsoft axed funding for its game. Studio co-founder Brenda Romero shared the news on X. “We deeply wish there had been something, anything, we could have done to prevent this outcome,” she wrote, urging anyone with opportunities for team members to reach out and thanking everyone for their support, kindness and encouragement. Her husband and co-founder, Doom creator John Romero, echoed her praise for their “incredible team” in his response, calling them “the best people I’ve ever worked with”.
Matt Turnbull, an executive producer at Xbox Game Studios Publishing, took a very different approach in a now-deleted LinkedIn post. Preserved by tech outlet Aftermath, the apparently tone-deaf post tells laid-off employees that they “don’t have to go it alone” – they have AI.
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“I know these types of tools engender strong feelings in people,” Turnbull said, “but I’d be remiss in not trying to offer the best advice I can under the circumstances.” He said he had been “experimenting” with using AI “to help reduce the emotional and cognitive load that comes with job loss.” He then offers a series of prompts for everything from rewriting a resume to providing emotional support and affirmation, before adding, perhaps confusingly,
“No AI tool is a replacement for your voice or your lived experience.”
The layoffs announced last week are the fourth by Microsoft this year, the last round in May cutting 6,000 jobs. As the company whittles away its 228,000-strong global workforce month by month, it’s making plans to invest heavily in AI and spending US$80 billion on huge data centres to train AI models. Microsoft is a major investor and shareholder in OpenAI, best-known for its chatbot ChatGPT, and has released its own AI assistant, Copilot. Both large language models (LLMs) are cited in Turnbull’s post.
“We continue to implement organisational changes necessary to best position the company for success in a dynamic marketplace,” a Microsoft spokesperson told the BBC of the layoffs. The next half century, a top Microsoft executive told the British broadcaster, will “fundamentally be defined by artificial intelligence,” changing the way we work and interact with one another.
While rank-and-file workers across Microsoft are made redundant, top AI talent is actively courted. The company hired British AI pioneer Mustafa Suleyman to lead its new AI division last year and may have to work to keep him, as competitors like Meta offer bonuses of over US$100 million when poaching top talent from rivals.
