At a time when thousands of Microsoft employees are facing unexpected layoffs, the company’s $80 billion investment in AI is casting a long shadow. But what ignited backlash this week wasn’t the job cuts or the AI spending, it was an executive producer at Microsoft-owned Xbox suggesting that the freshly unemployed should process their grief by chatting with AI tools like ChatGPT or Copilot. The message? Skip the therapist, and pour your heart out to a chatbot.
In a now-deleted LinkedIn post, Matt Turnbull, a senior Xbox producer, tried offering compassionate guidance to those navigating layoffs. “These are challenging times,” he wrote, “and if you’re navigating a layoff or even quietly preparing for one, you’re not alone and you don’t have to go it alone.”
He went on to suggest that large language models (LLMs) could help lighten the “emotional and cognitive load” of job loss. Tools like ChatGPT, he said, can “help get you unstuck faster, calmer, and with more clarity.” To demonstrate, he even offered AI prompt examples for laid-off workers struggling with self-worth:
“I’m struggling with impostor syndrome after being laid off. Can you help me reframe this experience in a way that reminds me what I’m good at?”
What might have been intended as a practical, tech-forward coping tool was immediately met with widespread ridicule and criticism. Social media erupted with outrage, with users calling Turnbull’s advice everything from “tone-deaf” to outright “cruel.” One Redditor summed it up bluntly:
“Anyone who tells people who were fired to talk to a computer chat algorithm for therapy is insane.”
Others took a more sarcastic route. One X (formerly Twitter) user quipped:
“The new Severance season is insanely good,” comparing the bizarre detachment to the dystopian TV show about corporate control and emotional suppression.
The backlash is unsurprising, especially in light of Microsoft’s aggressive pivot toward AI. The optics of pouring billions into automation while simultaneously cutting thousands of human jobs, and then encouraging those same ex-employees to seek solace in AI struck many as both ironic and offensive.
Critics didn’t just take issue with Turnbull’s advice; they also pointed to the broader corporate culture it reflected. “I hope this finally shatters the illusion for some people that Xbox is not your good buddy,” one user noted, dismantling the idea that beloved brands always have the best interests of their communities or employees in mind.
The fact that Turnbull eventually deleted his post suggests some level of acknowledgment or at least discomfort over how poorly his message was received. It’s a textbook case of good intentions being lost in the vacuum of corporate detachment.
