Programmers bore the brunt of Microsoft’s layoffs in its home state as AI writes up to 30% of its code

Coders were hit hardest among Microsoft’s 2,000-person layoff in its home state of Washington, Bloomberg reports.

Over 40% of the people laid off were in software engineering, making it by far the largest category, Bloomberg found based on state filings. Relatively few sales or marketing positions were affected, Bloomberg added. 

To be fair, coders are a big chunk of Microsoft’s workforce, although it doesn’t disclose the exact proportion. The cuts are part of recent layoffs at Microsoft affecting about 6,000 people.

Still, these cuts come after CEO Satya Nadella said last month that up to 30% of the company’s code was now written by AI. 

TechCrunch asked Microsoft if the layoffs were motivated by the rise of AI-assisted coding. The tech giant declined to comment. Microsoft has said the layoffs are aimed at reducing management layers.