🤖 “Laid Off? Try ChatGPT.” — When AI Replaces You, Then Tries to Console You
In a surreal twist, Xbox Game Studios exec Matt Turnbull recently suggested that workers laid off during Microsoft’s latest round of AI-era cuts should… turn to AI for emotional support.
Yes, really.
After announcing that multiple game studios were being shut down and countless developers were being let go, Turnbull took to LinkedIn to recommend that displaced workers use tools like ChatGPT for things like:
- Writing resumes
- Searching job boards
- Exploring new career paths
- Managing emotions
The message, however well-intentioned, landed like a punch in the gut. For many in the games industry and beyond, it read more like:
“We replaced you with AI—now let AI help you process it.”
“You don’t need AI to help you mourn your career. You need people who care.”
— Humans First Alliance
SOURCE: https://www.theverge.com/news/698468/xbox-exec-reccommends-ai-to-laid-off-staff
đź’” A Cold, New Normal?
Turnbull’s post reflects a troubling new attitude: that AI isn’t just a tool for business, but also the solution for the human wreckage it leaves behind. It’s not just automating work—it’s being pitched as a therapist, a job coach, and a grief counselor.
This isn’t support.
It’s outsourcing empathy.
🧠What This Says About the World We’re Building
1. We’re replacing human connection with code
Laid-off developers—many of whom built beloved franchises—are now being directed to chatbots for comfort.
2. AI caused the layoffs—and now it’s the bandage
Microsoft’s massive investments in AI have coincided with tens of thousands of layoffs. This is not a coincidence. It’s a business model.
3. Grief deserves more than a prompt
Losing your job, your team, your purpose—these are deeply human experiences. They call for community, not artificial responses.
🔧 What HFA Believes
At the Humans First Alliance, we reject this cold vision of the future.
- We believe real people need real support.
- We believe layoffs driven by AI should come with transition plans, mental health resources, and human accountability.
- And we believe the solution to the AI crisis is not “more AI”—it’s more human connection, more ethical leadership, more compassion.
✊ What You Can Do
đź“Ł Were you affected by a layoff?
Tell us your story. Help us show the world what’s really happening beneath the headlines.
đź’Ś Join our mailing list
We’re building a network of humans helping humans navigate this new world—together.
🎯 Stand with HFA
Support our mission to fight for ethical AI, human-first policies, and a future where people aren’t just replaceable inputs.
đź’¬ Final Word
AI shouldn’t be your therapist.
It shouldn’t be your grief counselor.
It shouldn’t be your apology.
Let’s build a world where we don’t need machines to comfort the people they’ve replaced.
– The Humans First Alliance