A Microsoft techie was allegedly let go because of artificial intelligence, claimed a viral Reddit post, warning of a future in which AI will claim more jobs than it will ever create.
A Redditor said that his friend at Microsoft got laid off because the tech giant decided to take an “AI-first” approach at work. “AI’s impact feels way more real now,” he quipped.
Sharing his friend’s story, the social media user said that the Microsoft techie was laid off after five years, “totally out of the blue”.
“No warnings, just a cold calendar invite. His whole team was told they’re moving towards ‘AI-first’ work, and most regular devs are out,” the user said.
The Redditor shared that the fired team was being replaced with a smaller AI pod, as Microsoft is pushing most coding to automated tools.
“He’s honestly shocked and angry because all the talk about ‘AI creating new jobs’ feels like a joke right now,” he said.
“Anyone else running into this or seeing actual new roles open up after these layoffs?” the Redditor asked fellow social media users.
Here’s how netizens reacted:
The viral Reddit post ignited a debate, with social media users weighing in on whether AI is indeed responsible for the mass layoffs.
While several netizens claimed that the tech companies are following this new fad for the sake of it, others said that it was being made a scapegoat to let people go.
“Your friend’s team probably got by last year when they corrected the overhiring that happened during the pandemic… AI is just a scapegoat at this point.. Honestly, AI is currently overhyped,” a netizen said.
“Sounds like an internal tooling team. These teams are usually the first to go, in this case management trying to experiment by replacing them with AI,” added another.
A user said, “AI is just the latest excuse-these layoffs are about cutting costs and pleasing shareholders, not about innovation or the future of work. Watch, in a year they’ll blame something else.”
“Honestly, this is what happens when companies chase hype over actual value,” he added.
“AI is smart but not smart enough to replace the entire team,” highlighted another user, adding that if it really were AI replacing humans, the layoff would’ve been more selective. “When the whole team is laid off, it simply means the industry is shedding extra weight and becoming lean,” he added.
However, a user said it was “scary,” adding, “It is getting real. I heard from a friend that a part of the vendor team was let go at Google Android Auto as they wanted to leverage AI more.”