Microsoft Slashes 9K Jobs for AI

Welcome to another edition of AI PlanetX.

Microsoft to cut 9,000 jobs as it ramps up AI investment; viral band ‘Velvet Sundown’ was never real; Centaur AI models human decisions.

• Hottest AI News

• Top AI & SaaS Tools

• Top AI & Tech News

• AI Trend Watch: Turn Your Chats into Pixel-Perfect Designs

• AI Art Spotlight

• Prompt of the Day: Transform Question Into Optimized Prompt

• AI Video Tutorial

• F-R-E-E AI Course of the Day: LLM Agents by UC Berkeley

Hottest AI News

Microsoft

Microsoft Plans 9,000 Job Cuts Amid AI Investment Push

Microsoft will cut up to 9,000 jobs—around 4% of its workforce—as it shifts further toward AI. The layoffs, part of ongoing 2025 cuts, come alongside an $80 billion push into AI data centers. Microsoft called the move a strategic adjustment to stay competitive.

Details:

• Microsoft’s Xbox division was hit hard, with Perfect Dark and Everwild canceled. The Initiative studio is shutting down, and layoffs also affected Turn 10, ZeniMax Online, and Romero Games

• Over 800 jobs will be cut in Redmond and Bellevue. The move follows Microsoft’s AI focus, including hiring Mustafa Suleyman. Despite backing OpenAI, Microsoft’s Copilot lags behind ChatGPT in business use

• Tech giants are cutting jobs but racing for AI talent. Meta offered over $100M to lure researchers. OpenAI confirmed poaching, and Amazon says AI will replace some roles

The cuts mark Microsoft’s fourth round in 2025, showing a sharp shift toward AI. Across tech, companies are slashing jobs while investing heavily in AI—what one executive called the defining force of the next 50 years.

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AI and Ethics

Viral Band/Musicians ‘Velvet Sundown’ Never Actually Existed

The Velvet Sundown, a viral band with 500K+ monthly Spotify listeners, has been revealed as an AI-generated project. Despite earlier denials, a spokesperson admitted to Rolling Stone they used the AI tool Suno to create their music—a blend of '70s psychedelia, alt-pop, and analog soul.

Details:

• The band debuted in June with two albums, prompting suspicion over AI visuals and generic sound. Spokesperson "Andrew Frelon" later admitted Suno was used to generate tracks, including vocals via its "Persona" tool

• Their sudden popularity raised questions about playlist manipulation, which Frelon dodged. Reddit, TikTok users, and Deezer all flagged the music as likely AI-generated

• Frelon called it an "art hoax," claiming fake creations can have more cultural impact than real ones, and described AI art as the internet’s new native language

The Velvet Sundown case underscores rising concerns over AI in music, showing how easily artificial content can blur lines of creativity and authenticity as streaming platforms lack clear rules.

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Top AI & Tech News

• Helmholtz Munich researchers created an AI called Centaur that accurately simulates human decision-making

• Perplexity Max is a $200/month plan for power users, offering unlimited spreadsheet/report tools, early feature previews, and priority with advanced AI models

• OpenAI is increasing its collaboration with Oracle by leasing approximately 4.5 gigawatts of data center capacity to support its AI energy requirements

• Racist videos, apparently created using Google's AI video generation tool Veo 3, have gone viral on TikTok, amassing millions of views

AI Trend Watch

How to Chat Your Way to Production-Ready Designs 🤯

AI Art Spotlight

Model: Midjourney V7

Prompt:

a miniature handcrafted set of a nostalgic rural train station shot with a 100mm macro lens f/2.8, the main focus is a needle-felted man holding a bouquet while gazing up at a woman leaning from a train window, both sharing a tender moment, hyper-detailed wool textures, cinematic and tranquil, lifelike proportions --ar 9:16 --quality 2 --v 7

Prompt of the Day

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Top AI Video Tutorial

27 F-R-E-E Things You Can Do With Gemini

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