Microsoft has recently continued to lay off employees. After announcing the layoff of 5 employees in May, it laid off another 6000 employees earlier.Even affecting Xbox gaming businessHowever, while employees were still in shock and anxiety, Matt Turnbull, executive producer of Xbox Game Studios Publishing, shared on LinkedInUnexpected "suggestion", believes that laid-off colleagues can use large language models (LLMs) such as Microsoft Copilot or ChatGPT to help alleviate the "emotional and cognitive burden" brought about by unemployment.
Matt Turnbull pointed out in his post: "This period is very difficult, but you are not alone, and you don't need to fight alone." He also believes that using Copilot can help quickly generate suitable job application opening statements, adjust resume content, plan career direction, and even gain "emotional clarity and confidence" when facing career transitions.
However, the statement that "AI can heal the pain of layoffs" quickly triggered a strong backlash in the gaming industry community. Necrosoft Games Director and Insert Credit host Brandon SheffieldForward to Bluesky platform, prompting many people to respond with cynicism. On LinkedIn, many users also questioned whether Matt Turnbull, a senior executive who had not been laid off, truly understood the plight of the unemployed.
Eventually, Matt Turnbull deleted the content a few hours after posting it, but did not make any further response.
Behind the external criticism is the obvious contradiction in Microsoft's current strategy.
Earlier this year, Microsoft President Brad Smith announced a plan to invest approximately $2025 billion by 800 to strengthen AI infrastructure. CEO Satya Nadella even stated that a significant amount of Microsoft code is already written by AI. Meanwhile, Microsoft's current layoffs, which coincide with its AI push, have left employees concerned about their future job security.
Even Halo Studios employees told foreign mediadiscloseThey feel that the Xbox team seems to be "working to replace most human labor with AI agents." In addition, a memo recently circulated within Microsoft explicitly requiring employees to "must use Copilot" and no longer view it as an optional tool.
From outside observations, Microsoft's determination to promote AI is already quite obvious, but when AI tools and manpower streamlining are promoted simultaneously, how to balance employee emotions and corporate responsibility will be a difficult problem that Microsoft must face in the future.
