Behind Microsoft's layoffs is a significant push towards automation using artificial intelligence.

According to a source familiar with the matter, Microsoft Vice President Jeff Herbst, who is responsible for managing about 400 software engineers, recently told his team that half of the computer code they write will need to use artificial intelligence models supported by the company provided by OpenAI to generate. This means that the current proportion of artificial intelligence code in the company will increase from 20% to 30%, showing how quickly Microsoft is integrating this type of technology. The source said that on Tuesday, Microsoft fired more than a dozen engineers in Herbst's team as part of a large-scale layoff plan involving 6,000 employees in the company, with engineers seemingly being hit harder than other types of positions. Senior leadership throughout the company has been repeating a phrase to subordinates: use artificial intelligence to increase productivity in sales, engineering, customer support, and other positions. This is consistent with what Microsoft has been telling enterprise customers, that it is promoting artificial intelligence to them to reduce costs associated with employees.