Microsoft, layoffs and ruthless artificial intelligence

Microsoft is somewhat of a mystery. It’s one of the most iconic and oldest companies of the digital revolution – it was founded nearly half a century ago by Bill Gates when he was 19; and has always combined the hunger and speed of innovation of a startup with the global ambitions and ability to take on the market of a multinational. Since 1975 the world has changed countless times and it has often done so thanks to Microsoft which has been able to evolve, adapt and interpret time.

For almost ten years it has been led by a manager of modest charm but rare skill, Satya Nadella, who hasn’t made a mistake in a move (from the acquisitions of LinkedIn and GitHub to the development of Teams). The last one, having been the first to believe in the generative artificial intelligence that everyone is talking about, investing in Open AI, the company that developed ChatGPT which will soon be implemented in all Microsoft products. A few days ago many praised Nadella for announcing an unlimited vacation policy for all employees, a practice so far only experimented by a few startups. Today, about ten thousand layoffs out of just over two hundred thousand employees are added to unlimited holidays. Why is an undoubtedly successful company following the mass layoffs that started in Silicon Valley in November?

The case

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For various reasons: for profit, because the market slows down, to be able to adapt to new needs. But I keep thinking about ChatGPT: the impressive ability of this artificial intelligence to do jobs like human beings. In our place. Adapting to artificial intelligence requires being ruthless, Nadella said yesterday at the Davos summit. Ruthless like him, who sends home ten thousand people in one fell swoop. It is not a surrender or a retreat: everything is about to change again and we are not ready.