Terrible AI Art in Xbox Hiring Post Draws Heat Post-Layoffs
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Just two weeks after cancelling major projects and laying off staff across Xbox Game Studios, Microsoft is under fire again. This time, for a poorly timed job listing. The now-deleted LinkedIn post featured AI-generated art to advertise an opening on Xbox’s graphics team, and it didn’t take long for the backlash to begin.
The ad, reportedly shared by Xbox’s graphics development lead, showed a generic futuristic workspace rendered by AI, with details like a monitor facing the wrong way. The ongoing concerns about AI’s impact on creative jobs, and the use of machine-generated art to hire for an art-related role.
“Trying to imagine what it must be like for thousands of Xbox staff getting laid off, and watching the head of graphics posting AI slop to advertise new vacancies,” one commenter wrote directly on the post.
Another added, “Why would anyone take a job listing using AI for a position in your art department? That screams to me you’ll just replace me in a year or so.”
Though the layoffs weren’t officially linked to AI initiatives, the outcome is hard to ignore. That’s especially when some of the cancelled games included high-profile titles like Everwild and Perfect Dark. All in all, the use of AI art only poured fuel on that fire.
