Microsoft internally shared that it’s utilizing AI to avoid wasting a whole lot of tens of millions of {dollars}, even because the tech big lays off hundreds of staff.
Throughout a presentation to workers this week, which was leaked to Bloomberg, Microsoft’s Chief Industrial Officer Judson Althoff mentioned that AI instruments are serving to staff be extra productive throughout the board, from gross sales to customer support. For customer support staff, Althoff famous that Microsoft saved greater than $500 million final 12 months in name middle productiveness and boosted worker and buyer satisfaction with the interactions.
As of January, Microsoft was on observe to make investments roughly $80 billion in AI infrastructure and different AI efforts for the fiscal 12 months 2025. Greater than half of this funding is centered within the U.S. Microsoft’s most up-to-date earnings, launched in April for the quarter ending March 31, confirmed that income was $70.1 billion, up 13% year-over-year. CEO Satya Nadella attributed the outcomes to “cloud and AI” progress.
On the gross sales aspect, Microsoft staff are utilizing the corporate’s Copilot AI assistant to yield 9% extra income by serving to salespeople discover extra leads and shut offers quicker, Althoff mentioned. Nevertheless, Copilot has lagged behind ChatGPT by way of mainstream adoption, drawing about 20 million weekly customers globally in comparison with ChatGPT’s 500 million weekly customers.
For software program engineers, Althoff mentioned that AI generates 35% of recent code at Microsoft, shortening the time it takes new merchandise to launch. Microsoft’s AI coding instrument, GitHub Copilot, is a market chief, with 15 million customers.
Althoff moreover said Microsoft is producing tens of tens of millions of {dollars} with a brand new effort to make use of AI to take over communication with smaller prospects.
Microsoft Chief Industrial Officer Judson Althoff. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg through Getty Photos
As Microsoft doubles down on incorporating AI into its each day operations, the corporate is shedding staff. Final week, Microsoft introduced that it was slicing round 9,000 workers members, about 4% of its international workforce. In Could, the corporate laid off 6,000 staff, slicing a whole lot extra in June.
In June 2024, earlier than the current layoffs, Microsoft reported having a complete international workforce of 228,000 staff, with 126,000 positioned within the U.S.
Nevertheless, Microsoft denies that AI has led to layoffs. In accordance with Bloomberg, Microsoft’s foremost lawyer, Brad Smith, mentioned on Wednesday that AI was “not a predominant issue” in current job cuts.
Microsoft is likely one of the most dear corporations on this planet, second solely to Nvidia, with a market worth of $3.71 trillion on the time of writing.
Associated: Xbox Producer Tells Laid-Off Staff to Flip to AI For Recommendation If They’re Feeling ‘Overwhelmed’
