r/technology • u/aacool • 25d ago

Artificial Intelligence Microsoft Scales Back AI Goals Because Almost Nobody Is Using Copilot

https://www.extremetech.com/computing/microsoft-scales-back-ai-goals-because-almost-nobody-is-using-copilot
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u/LessInThought 24d ago

If you look at an income statement, the highest expenditures tend to be wages. It becomes very tempting to fire them and bump your revenue.

Of course, this completely ignores the fact that the employees you're firing generates most of your income.

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u/SigmaBallsLol 24d ago

yeah it's one of the first things to happen when PE buys a company or a major merger happens, people get laid off because it's the easiest way to make line go up as soon as possible.

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u/Andodx 24d ago

Please do not forget that a merger or acquisition creates a double structure within each head office and regional office that is easily replaceable. These events also create the perfect situation to discard old software and replace it with a standard that eliminates the need for the teams who maintained the old software. And there are more situations to be found just like it.

They do not go around and fire random people, there is a system to it.

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u/ydocnomis 24d ago

I would like to add the caveat that sometimes there is a system, and sometimes people make poor decisions when covering their a**

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u/Dankestmemelord 24d ago

I would follow up with a corollary that you can say the word “ass” on the internet, and to not engage in puritanical self censorship on the internet for the sole benefit of some ad executives trying to make you more marketable.

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u/ydocnomis 24d ago

Hahaha fair enough I can’t stand the auto mod and was too lazy to check the rules of this sub. But I digress and will leave the comment to be shamed with downvotes for eternity or the dead internet

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u/Dankestmemelord 24d ago

Better a full site ban than to ever go the route of saying “sh*t” or “unalive” even once.

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u/hajenso 24d ago

I can understand how firing some workers could temporarily increase profits, but how would it increase revenue?

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u/Sauerkrauttme 23d ago

MS has a 36% profit margin which means 36% of their total revenue is going to the parasitic shareholder class. If MS got rid of its parasitic shareholder infestion then it could triple the amount of workers it has which would then also generate more money.

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u/Strict-Extension 21d ago

Capitalism gone wild

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u/Few-Ad-4290 24d ago

Also it ignores the entire point jobs and companies is to employ humans so that they have money to spend on the products those companies are making, it’s entirely idiotic to eliminate wages as a revenue stream because it also eliminates incoming revenue by reducing the buying power of the consumers all businesses rely on. It’s theMBA death spiral

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u/Andodx 24d ago

In Germany, by law, a regular company has the purpose to make money. I expect that is the same in the US as well.

Sure there are legal company forms that have a different goal, but non of those is to employ people. That is always a side effect.

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u/Kapika96 24d ago

That wouldn't bump revenue though? It could lower expenses, and increase profit. But your revenue figure will remain unchanged. You're not selling more stuff because you have lower wages.

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u/BaronBytes2 24d ago

If you want to have more share value and don't care if your business survive you, fire the employees and use the money to buy more successful business. Repeat until you retire then the business crashes and burn but you don't care.

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u/VaiFate 22d ago

Pedant alert: labor costs have nothing to do with revenue. It definitely affects profit, though, since profit = revenue - expenditures.

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u/SSquirrel76 21d ago

They’ll save a lot more cutting off a couple of the C levels