Microsoft employees report varying AI tool usage and compensation across the company's large workforce.
Microsoft employees have voluntarily shared an internal spreadsheet detailing their base salaries, raises, bonuses, and stock awards. This data provides a snapshot of how the tech giant rewards talent while competing with rivals like Meta and Google for skilled engineers. Notably, the spreadsheet now includes a new metric for 'AI $ Usage Per Month,' allowing workers to report the dollar value of artificial intelligence tools they used over the past 28 days. Analysis of the data shows a wide range of AI spending, with a median usage of $300 and a high of $28,000. However, the data reveals no clear correlation between high AI usage and increased compensation or promotions. While Microsoft is investing billions in AI infrastructure, the company currently uses stock awards as a primary tool for retaining top talent. Because the data is self-reported and anonymous, it represents a small sample of the company's 223,000 employees. Microsoft declined to comment on the overall findings.