Three things every leader must do to hold the line against AI decision making
The leaders who keep their edge will be the ones who resist the temptation to hand over judgments to machines.
The New York Times AI·
The very leaders rhapsodizing about a shorter workweek are demanding more time, not less, from their employees.
Read full articleThe leaders who keep their edge will be the ones who resist the temptation to hand over judgments to machines.
PLUS: Run better 1-on-1s with employees using AI
The number of tech layoffs continues to tick upwards as AI investments increase, with Microsoft alone cutting around 4,800 employees, or roughly 2.1% of its workforce, this week. The latest cutbacks are mostly in the company’s commercial sales and Xbox divisions. They follow two others in 2025 that impacted around 15,000 workers, or roughly 4% of the company’s workforce. Prior to the latest cuts, Microsoft had 220,000-plus employees. The headcount reduction also comes just days after the announcement of Microsoft Frontier Company, an initiative that will provide embedded support for customers deploying AI projects, similar to traditional offerings from systems integrators (SIs). Taken together, these moves seem to indicate that Microsoft is betting on its engineering expertise, rather than traditional account management, as the path to AI success. “Microsoft had already reorganized its commercial business around AI,” said Thomas Randall, a research director at Info-Tech Research Group.
The number of tech layoffs continues to tick upwards as AI investments increase, with Microsoft alone cutting around 4,800 employees, or roughly 2.1% of its workforce, this week. The latest cutbacks are mostly in the company’s commercial sales and Xbox divisions. They follow two others in 2025 that impacted around 15,000 workers, or roughly 4% of the company’s workforce. Prior to the latest cuts, Microsoft had 220,000-plus employees. The headcount reduction also comes just days after the announcement of Microsoft Frontier Company, an initiative that will provide embedded support for customers deploying AI projects, similar to traditional offerings from systems integrators (SIs). Taken together, these moves seem to indicate that Microsoft is betting on its engineering expertise, rather than traditional account management, as the path to AI success. “Microsoft had already reorganized its commercial business around AI,” said Thomas Randall, a research director at Info-Tech Research Group.
STK095 Microsoft | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge A year after cutting around 9,100 employees, Microsoft is making further layoffs today as it begins its new financial year. The software maker is laying off around 4,800 employees today, approximately 2.1 percent of its workforce. Most of the employees affected by today's cuts are in Microsoft's commercial sales business or the company's Xbox division. In an internal memo to employees, Amy Coleman, executive vice president and Microsoft's chief people officer, blamed the job losses on a changing technology industry and the "need to adjust resources and roles and shift how we operate" to respond to how AI is impacting companies like Microsof … Read the full story at The Verge.
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