--- title: "Insider Claims Microsoft Saved Half a Billion Dollars by Automating Low-Level Jobs" description: "A Microsoft exec is claiming that the company has already saved $500 million as it automates thousands of jobs formerly held by humans." date: "2025-07-10" modified: "2025-07-10" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/microsoft-executive-ai-savings" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "automation" - "labor" - "layoffs" - "microsoft" --- # Insider Claims Microsoft Saved Half a Billion Dollars by Automating Low-Level Jobs ![A Microsoft exec is claiming that the company has already saved $500 million as it automates thousands of jobs formerly held by humans.]() *\Image: Stephen Brashear / Getty\* A Microsoft executive has made a bold — if dubious — claim: that the company has already saved hundreds of millions of dollars as it automates thousands of jobs formerly held by humans. As [*Bloomberg* reports]() based on insider sources, Microsoft chief commercial officer Judson Althoff said during a recent employee presentation that the tech giant saved more than $500 million using AI in 2024 — and that's just at its call centers. Althoff's comments came just days after the company announced [layoffs of a whopping 9,000 workers](), bringing its total number of job cuts this year up to around 15,000. During a separate event this week, Microsoft's head lawyer, Brad Smith, claimed that boosting productivity was "not a predominant factor" in those job cuts. Given that those remarks came during an event announcing a [hefty donation for AI education](), however, that seems like a stretch. During the internal presentation, Althoff boasted that AI is now assisting in sales, customer service, and software engineering — and it's even being used to communicate with smaller customers. Though the latter use case is still new, the CCO said it has already brought in tens of millions of dollars in sales. Obviously, there's no real way for outside observers to determine how much Microsoft, or anyone else, is saving by replacing human labor with AI — and judging by the experiences of some other companies that have been [forced to bring back human workers](), it doesn't always go that way. There are also questions of methodology; because we don't know what metrics the company uses to determine savings, we can't say one way or another that the $500 million in savings that Althoff touted isn't just the combined salaries of the [thousands of people]() the company laid off in 2024. Still, [Microsoft did just announce]() in its second-quarter earnings report for 2025 that its revenue increased a whopping $7.6 billion, or 12 percent — and that many of those gains are thanks to its various AI endeavors. With those figures in mind, it's clear that the cost-benefit analysis going on behind the scenes at Microsoft supports the laying off of human workers en masse as it continues to push ever forward on AI. Whether that's good business, only time will tell. **More on Microsoft:** [*After 9,000 Layoffs, Microsoft Boss Has Brutal Advice for Sacked Workers*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()