Microsoft is facing growing dissatisfaction among its employees over its aggressive push towards artificial intelligence (AI), even as the tech giant offers voluntary buyouts to around 60,000 employees worldwide.
A group of current and former Microsoft employees has circulated an open letter accusing the company of prioritising AI investments over employee welfare, customer interests and environmental commitments.
The letter, signed by “Concerned Microsoft Workers”, makes a striking observation: “Working at Microsoft has become joyless and demoralizing.”
According to a report by The New York Times, the letter began circulating internally before Microsoft’s October 26 announcement of its latest voluntary exit scheme.
Employees alleged that the company’s increasing focus on AI has resulted in heavier workloads, frequent reorganisations, job insecurity and growing pressure to use AI tools.
They claimed that employees are being pushed to use AI in almost every aspect of their work, often without proper training.
Instead of improving productivity, the workers alleged, the tools sometimes create additional work, as employees have to correct poor AI-generated results and fix unreliable features.
The letter also raises concerns about customer safety, data centre projects, military contracts and Microsoft’s environmental commitments.
The employees want greater involvement in decisions regarding AI development and deployment. They have also demanded that the company stop linking AI adoption to employee rewards or penalties.
They urged Microsoft to honour its environmental targets of becoming carbon negative, water positive and zero waste by 2030.
Meanwhile, Microsoft’s latest Voluntary Exit Offer covers eligible employees in India, the US, the UK and Canada.
The scheme applies mainly to employees at level 70 and below in participating teams, excluding certain sales and engineering divisions.
Employees accepting the offer will receive at least eight weeks of base salary, with additional compensation depending on their seniority and years of service.
The deadline to accept the offer is December 9, and those opting out will leave the company on December 31.
Microsoft expects fewer than 5% of eligible employees to accept the offer.
Interestingly, the buyout announcement comes at a time when Microsoft is reporting massive profits and investing heavily in AI infrastructure.
The company recently reported a quarterly profit of $36.6 billion, a 32% increase, on revenue of $92.3 billion.
Its capital expenditure rose to $45.2 billion, largely driven by data centre investments. Microsoft is expected to spend around $170 billion during the calendar year.
However, some employees complained that their annual salary increases were below 1%, despite the company’s record financial performance.
Several workers also expressed concerns that employees accepting the buyout might not be replaced, increasing the workload on those who remain.
Microsoft’s chief people officer, Amy Coleman, reportedly maintained that the voluntary exit scheme was not connected to AI-driven changes in the workplace. However, she did not rule out further layoffs.
The company has already witnessed several rounds of job cuts in recent years, including around 4,800 layoffs in July 2026.
While Microsoft is spending billions to lead the AI race, its employees are questioning whether the company’s technological ambitions are coming at the cost of its own workforce.