From Anxiety to ChatGPT

The following story presents a nice reversal of the previous post in my chatbotics series, From ChatGPT to Anxiety.

A boss at Xbox (owned by Microsoft) went onto LinkyDin (owned by Microsoft) to recommend the use of chatbots (either Microsoft Copilot or OpenAI's ChatGPT) for any employee made redundant (and consequently anxious) as Microsoft switches its focus towards artificial intelligence. He suggested that chatbots could help reduce the emotional and cognitive load that comes with job loss.

Brandon Sheffield posted a screenshot of the LinkyDin post on BlueSky, commenting Something I've realized over time is people in general lack the ability to think in a broader scope and include context and eventualities. But after thousands of people get laid off from your company maybe don't suggest they turn to the thing you're trying to replace them with for solace.

It may well be the case that chatbots are capable of higher levels of emotional intelligence than some tech bosses, and many people might prefer to confide in a chatbot than a representative of the company that has just fired them, whether for practical advice or mental health support. As Bilquise et al report, the emotional intelligence of chatbots is generally assessed in terms of accurately detecting the user’s emotion and generating emotionally relevant responses, while Ruse et al have explored how the use of mental health apps has changed the way people think about mental health more generally. (See also my commentary on the Ruse article.)

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Ghazala Bilquise, Samar Ibrahim and Khaled Shaalan, Emotionally Intelligent Chatbots: A Systematic Literature Review (Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies 2022)

Charlotte Edwards, Xbox producer tells staff to use AI to ease job loss pain (BBC 7 July 2025)

Lili Jamali, Microsoft to cut up to 9,000 more jobs as it invests in AI (BBC 3 July 2025)

Luke Plunkett, Xbox Producer Recommends Laid Off Workers Should Use AI To ‘Help Reduce The Emotional And Cognitive Load That Comes With Job Loss’ (Aftermath, 4 July 2025) HT Brandon Sheffield

Jesse Ruse, Ernst Schraube, and Pual Rhodes, Left to their own devices: The significance of mental health apps on the construction of therapy and care (Subjectivity 2024)

Richard Veryard, On the Subjectivity of Devices (Subjectivity 2024)