Microsoft is showcasing the benefits of AI to its employees. Those who haven't been laid off

According to Bloomberg, during a presentation this week, Mocrosoft Chief Commercial Officer Judson Althoff said that artificial intelligence tools are boosting productivity in everything from sales and customer service to software engineering.

Microsoft Saves Half a Billion Dollars Thanks to AI in 2024

Althoff said AI saved Microsoft more than $500 million last year in call centers alone and increased satisfaction for both employees and customers.

The company is also starting to use artificial intelligence to handle interactions with smaller customers, Althoff said. This venture is in its infancy, but it's already generating tens of millions of dollars, he added.

The enormous potential of artificial intelligence in work automation

According to Bloomberg, technology executives are increasingly vocal about the potential of artificial intelligence to automate work currently performed by humans. Salesforce reported that 30% of its internal work is handled by AI, allowing it to reduce hiring for certain positions. Executives at Alphabet and Meta reported that significant portions of code are now written using AI.

At Microsoft, artificial intelligence generated 35 percent of the code for new products, which sped up time to market, Althoff said.

The implementation of AI has sparked concern about replacement for many workers, particularly in the tech industry. Microsoft announced about 15,000 job cuts this year , and last week's wave of layoffs targeted customer service positions like sales.

Althoff emphasized to employees that AI can make them more effective as salespeople.

"By using Microsoft's Copilot AI assistant, every salesperson finds more leads, closes deals faster, and generates 9% more revenue," the manager said.

Productivity gains from artificial intelligence "have not been the dominant factor" in job cuts in recent months, Microsoft chief legal officer Brad Smith said Wednesday at an event announcing a donation of more than $4 billion in cash and technology to schools aimed at spreading AI skills.