Earlier this week, a massive new wave of Microsoft layoffs – which impacted many employees across the company's gaming division and led to a number of cancelled games – was announced. It's grim news across the board, especially for anyone directly affected, but one executive producer at Xbox Game Studios Publishing suggests that those struggling should turn to AI for emotional support and career advice.
In a LinkedIn post first flagged by game dev Brandon Sheffield on Bluesky (also shared by Aftermath), executive producer Matt Turnbull acknowledges that "these are really challenging times," and wants to "offer the best advice I can under the circumstances." He then explains that "I've been experimenting with ways to use LLM Al tools (like ChatGPT or Copilot) to help reduce the emotional and cognitive load that comes with job loss."
Turnbull goes on to share a number of "prompt ideas and use cases that might help if you're feeling overwhelmed," from asking AI to "act as a career coach," to suggesting new jobs individuals could pivot to, and rewriting parts of resumes and drafting fresh LinkedIn "about me" sections. One suggestion even includes drafting "a friendly message" to send to former co-workers "letting them know I'm exploring new opportunities," and writing "a warm intro message" to send to pursue job listings.
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The section that perhaps stands out the most, however, is the section on "emotional clarity and confidence." Turnbull suggests turning to an emotionless AI program and saying something along the lines of "I'm struggling with imposter syndrome after being laid off. Can you help me reframe this experience in a way that reminds me what I'm good at?"
We can no longer see what the responses to this on LinkedIn were like, because the post has now been deleted. However, on Bluesky, many are having the reaction you'd expect: "Yikes." Another user says: "It's like a total disconnection from reality. I'm sure he thinks he's helping those people laid off, but what the heck."
Turnbull had noted that "these types of tools engender strong feelings in people," which is a bit of an understatement. Amid rising concerns about jobs being replaced by AI (not to mention the surrounding issues, such as environmental impact and what the growing use of generative AI might mean for human creativity), its use is controversial at the best of times. But right on the back of a huge number of people actually losing their jobs? You can understand why so many people are angry.
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