Microslop's Hilariously Suspicious Actions

Did AI ruin the party?

Photo by Sunrise King on Unsplash

Watching Microsoft repeatedly kick itself in the dick these past few years has been as entertaining as it has been deeply frustrating. The monopoly seems to have done everything in its power to make using Windows as infuriating as when Melinda read those emails, and now users are flocking to Apple and Linux to escape the mess. Why has all this happened? Well, Microsoft’s recent amusing activity strongly suggests it is all down to the very thing we have suspected all along: AI.

Let’s wind the clocks back a bit to gain some context.

In early 2025, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated that AI wrote up to 30% of Microsoft’s code. This is quite a bold claim, and to many, it appeared to justify Microsoft’s colossal investment in OpenAI.

Then, Microsoft turned around and laid off an astronomical number of employees, totalling 15,000 by the end of the year! Some of these branches were heavily impacted, with coders accounting for 40% of the layoffs. To many, it looked like Microsoft was replacing its software engineers with AI.

And then the glitches started to happen.

Over 2025 and into 2026, every Windows update seemed to have an even bigger bug than the last. Performance slowed, apps failed, cloud storage glitched out, core features broke, recovery tools failed, and updates completely bricked machines and caused boot failures.

Microsoft has had to issue a dramatic number of patches and workarounds to try to address this tsunami of screw-ups, but the damage has been done. Users are fed up and jumping ship from Windows to Mac or Linux. In fact, it appears that Windows has lost 400 million users since 2022!

Now, I wonder if these two things — the AI coding and Windows completely crapping the bed — are connected?

I mean, it’s not like AI-generated code is notoriously buggy… Oh wait, it is!

Take the report from Coderabbit, which found that AI-generated code has 70% more major issues than human-written code. Or, what about the 2025 study from METR, which found that AI coding tools actually slow down experienced coders, as they need to spend more time correcting the bugs made by the AI than the time saved by using AI? This is worrying, considering that a survey of 500 software engineers found that 60% of organisations aren’t evaluating the effectiveness of AI coding tools and are instead simply saying, “Just trust me, bro.”

I have zero proof that Microsoft’s AI push caused Windows’ recent mess. But if it didn’t, it is possibly one of the biggest coincidences I have ever heard of.

With all of this in mind, Microsoft’s recent actions hilariously suggest this isn’t a coincidence.

In response to the horrific bugs being rolled out to Windows, Microsoft’s president of Windows and Devices, Pavan Davuluri, recently told The Verge, “The feedback we’re receiving from our community of passionate customers and Windows Insiders has been clear. We need to improve Windows in ways that are meaningful for people.” To achieve that end, CEO Satya Nadella recently created a new “Engineering Quality Head” role to ensure engineering quality across the company is satisfactory and gave it to Charlie Bell, who previously led Microsoft’s security division.

I want to make it crystal clear that I can’t prove any connections here. But doesn’t this seem like an admission that the AI coding failed? Because it sure looks like they have tried to replace part of their workforce with this bot, and it has screwed everything up so badly that now they have to double down on quality control. Especially since hiring a single quality-control guy probably won’t be enough to ensure this comes to an end.

I can’t help but feel this is a hard lesson that many AI-glazing companies are going to have to learn over the coming year. AI can’t replace workers, and trying to make that happen is the corporate equivalent of shooting yourself in the foot. In reality, if these companies valued their workforce as highly as they do AI, they would be thriving instead of destroying their core products and reputation. But, while I’m happy to see Microsoft appears to have recognised the error of their ways, I doubt that anyone in Big Tech is even capable of recognising this deeper, more profound lesson. I guess only time will tell.

---

Thanks for reading! Everything expressed in this article is my opinion, and should not be taken as financial advice or accusations. Don’t forget to check out my YouTubechannel for more from me, or Subscribe. Oh, and don’t forget to hit the share button below to get the word out!