The AI ​​leads Microsoft to cut 6,000 jobs in the biggest layoffs in two years

The AI ​​leads Microsoft to cut 6,000 jobs in the biggest layoffs in two years

It is not the first time that we talk about artificial intelligence as a reason to say goodbye. Neither linked to this technology nor others. It has happened in past centuries with the industrial revolution and in the twentieth century with robots. And the consequences are not always expected. The last to face this scenario would be Microsoft, who would be cutting approximately 6,000 jobsalmost 3% of its global workforce, in its largest round of layoffs in more than two years.

This measure occurs after a smaller round of layoffs based ​​in performance in January and marks a change regarding hiringeithern aggressive of theñthe pandemic. The mtos affected are the workers in the US. which represent mtos of half of the template of 228,000 Microsoft employees. The cuts, mainly concentrated in Washington, occur despite the solid recent results, indicating a strategic reorganization rather than financial difficulties. Only at the Microsoft headquarters, in Redmond, 1,985 employee has been fireds.

Of these, some 1,500 worked face -to -face, while 475 did it at a distance, according to a notice presented to the Washington state authorities. His last official employment day is scheduled for July. The technological giant said that The dismissals will cover all levels, equipment and geographies, but will focus mainly on management positions, affecting all areas of the company, including LinkedIn and Xbox.

“I think that many people have the idea that layoffs are something that companies in difficulties must implement to save themselves, which is one of the reasons, but not the only one – said Daniel Zhao, the main economist of the Glassdoor Business Reviews website, cited by Associated Press -. Great technology have trimmed their templates as their strategies reorganize and move away from the most aggressive hiring which implemented during the first years of postpandemics. ”

The Microsoft template in March remained 2 % higher than the previous yearalthough slightly lower than the end of last year. While the company did not specify the reason for the cuts, it described them as part of more broad “broader changes” destined to position Microsoft for success in a rapid evolution market.

“We continue to implement the necessary organizational changes to position the company in the best possible way for success in a dynamic market,” said a Microsoft spokesman.

But they are not the only ones. Last month, in an event about AI, Microsoft’s executive director, Satya Nadella declared the Chief of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, that “perhaps Between 20 % and 30 % of the code “of some Microsoft programming projects” is probably written entirely by software “.

Restructuring occurs at a time when The company invests 80,000 million dollars this year in the construction of data and infrastructure centers to support its rapid expansion ambitions in AI; A technology that, he says, is already transforming the way the work is done in his own teams. However, Zhao said that the reduction of positions does not necessarily mean that it is driven by AI.

“When these great technological ones say they are cutting managerial positions, They do not seem that they are really driven ​​for the AI ​​”explaineither.

Microsoft’s decision is part of a broader wave of layoffs that will run through the technology industry in 2025. Meta recently announced plans to cut around 3600 jobs, Amazon continues to cut equipment linked to communications and sustainability and Google, for its part, has introduced voluntary output programs.