Now Microsoft has announced 10,000 layoffs. More than 40% of its software engineering jobs are set to be affected as the technology giant turns its attention to using artificial intelligence to create software. According to the layoffs, first reported by Bloomberg based on state WARN filings, software engineering was the biggest impacted category. The news comes after CEO Satya Nadella’s recent statement highlighting that up to 30% of Microsoft’s code is now being written by AI.
Microsoft’s strategic cuts run deep. These cuts mostly affect the software engineering department. These layoffs are the beginning of a new direction for the troubled company. Today, it’s turning to AI technology to help it generate code more efficiently. Only a handful of jobs in sales and marketing were affected, reflecting a much more surgical focus on job cuts.
Microsoft’s changes are a reflection of bigger trends taking place in the tech world. Businesses are reaping the benefits as they leverage new AI capabilities to increase productivity and efficiency. Nadella’s assertion that AI is responsible for writing a substantial portion of the company’s code signals a transformative period for Microsoft. The movement towards automation completely eliminates engineering jobs. Those same advanced algorithms are now usurping tasks traditionally handled by human developers.
These layoffs have created an understandable uneasiness about the fate of tech jobs among people in the tech community. Simultaneously, they highlight the reality that the industry is always changing. AI is rapidly changing what coding tasks look like in the software development lifecycle. Consequently, we’re seeing in-demand roles go from heavy manual coding to more supervisory and managerial responsibilities of leaning towards AI systems.
Bloomberg’s review of the state filings highlights just how deep these layoffs are going, and the signal lays off are sending to workers. Microsoft’s move to trim the budget on such a large scale is indicative of its barrage towards new technological waves and economic shifts affecting market needs. As AI technology continues to proliferate, organizations will have to rethink how they build their talent pipelines and deploy their resources.