I’ll readily admit I’m not on LinkedIn much, if at all, but the impression I’m getting from people who are lurkers there is that the social media platform can feel like an alternate universe at times. Social norms sometimes just don’t apply there, and similarly posts by people who are active can seem very out of touch. Which probably explains this gem found on said social media platform, which has unsurprisingly since been deleted. And as you’d expect with the latest tech fad, it involves AI in some way.
First spotted by @brandon.insertcredit.com on Bluesky was a post by Matt Turnbull, Executive Producer at Xbox Game Studios Publishing, which can be described in a couple of ways. But you decide your favourite description, after reading the post that can be summed up as asking those who were affected by the recent Microsoft layoffs to lean on LLM AI for emotional support.
Matt Turnbull, Executive Producer at Xbox Game Studios Publishing – after the Microsoft layoffs – suggesting on Linkedin that may maybe people who have been let go should turn to AI for help. He seriously thought posting this would be a good idea.
— Brandon Sheffield (@brandon.insertcredit.com) 2025-07-04T03:48:10.841Z
Some are attributing this post to Turnbull toeing the company line, seeing as Microsoft announced an investment of “approximately US$80 billion (~RM339 billion)” into AI infrastructure. Indeed, a report by The Seattle Times seems to suggest that the current layoff episode is related to said AI investment.
All that being said though, there’s probably no correct tone or timing that one can adopt if the goal is to sneak in AI messaging into condolences. But this is another reinforcing of the stereotype of LinkedIn users that I mentioned above, even if it has since been wiped.
(Source: @brandon.insertcredit.com / Bluesky, Microsoft, The Seattle Times)
