Microsoft has said it will offer voluntary buyouts to eligible employees in select parts of the company. CNBC reports the offer will reach about 60,000 staff, roughly a quarter of the global workforce. The company describes it as a chance for employees already considering moving on from Microsoft. The offer extends to qualifying staff in the United States, India, Canada and the United Kingdom. It follows a voluntary retirement package offered in April and Xbox layoffs in July, with about 30 percent of eligible staff accepting the earlier offer.
Microsoft's AI diagnostic system correctly diagnosed complex medical cases in a simulation more than twice as often as generalist physicians, according to a study published in Science. Microsoft AI chief executive Mustafa Suleyman called the result a step toward medical superintelligence. The system, called MAI-DxO, uses several AI agents that act like a panel of doctors to question patients, order tests and debate diagnoses. The study found the system was correct 83 per cent of the time, compared with 36 per cent for primary care doctors and general internists working alone.
Microsoft has rolled out a la carte Cloud Playtime purchases to Xbox Insiders, letting players buy streaming hours for games they can already stream. Introductory prices range from $4 for 10 hours to $12 for 50 hours, roughly 24 to 40 cents an hour. Purchased playtime does not expire until it is used. The cost comes on top of the price of the game itself, unlike Xbox Game Pass, which includes some streaming hours in its subscription. The approach differs from Google's Stadia, which offered unlimited streaming for games bought on its platform before shutting down in 2022.
AU Now app
Your suburb’s news, alerts and Shorts — in one app
Alerts, Shorts and your saved stories — free on Google Play.
Fortune reports that Microsoft has asked the hardware team to bring forward Project Helix timelines by at least several months, partly by using AI tools. Some current and former staff reportedly believe Sharma was placed to carry out cuts before a planned sale of an Xbox spinoff. Microsoft executive Judson Althoff rejected that idea, saying the company would not have placed Sharma on a business it intends to sell.
Microsoft's Surface Laptop Ultra largely meets its promise of one machine for AI, development and gaming. The reviewer found its 15-inch mini-LED display and trackpad premium, and it ran a 70-billion-parameter AI model and demanding games. However, the starting price is $2,599, and key features such as Copilot+ are not yet available. Several tools also failed to use the graphics chip properly, and some software remains unfinished. The reviewer concludes that the hardware is impressive, but buyers should wait for the software to mature.
Microsoft has been barred from sponsoring foreign workers for US residency, with Vice President JD Vance singling out the company over its use of H-1B visas. Vance said the company laid off 6,000 American workers while benefiting from 6,300 H-1B visas and almost 3,000 green cards. Microsoft said its visa petitions were largely to extend or change the status of existing employees, and that it pays some of the highest wages in the tech sector. The same day, the Trump administration awarded chief executive Satya Nadella the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.
