AI First, Reality Last: Case Microsoft
If you thought 2025 couldn't get any stupider for the tech industry, Microsoft has arrived to prove you wrong.
I have been covering Microsoft’s descent into madness throughout the year. We watched them go on an insane firing spree, gutting the soul of their company. We watched them close down studios and cancel games that people actually praised and wanted to buy. We watched them force Copilot into every corner of the OS whether we asked for it or not.
Well, guess what? The insanity isn't over. Just recently, they managed to piss off LG TV users. Yeah, I didn't think that is the reality we are in either.
The Living Room Invasion:
In a move that reeks of desperation, Microsoft pushed a firmware update to LG OLED TVs that installed a Copilot icon overnight.
We are so back in the 2000s. It feels exactly like the era where bloatware and spyware were the norm in every tech product, only now it is on your living room wall. You couldn't even uninstall it. It sat there, burning into the screen, until a massive backlash from users threatening to disconnect their TVs from the internet forced LG and Microsoft to back down.
Wow, Microsoft. That is surely the way to get people to love your product! Nothing screams "innovative technology" like tricking people into having it on their television.
The 50% Reality Check:
Here is where the situation gets increasingly concerning. While they are force-feeding this tech to TV owners, reports leaked that Microsoft has officially lowered their own sales expectations for AI agents by 50% internally.
Read that again. People are literally not buying their garbage. The demand simply isn't there.
Yet, in the face of this rejection, they are still spending $35 billion per quarter on data centres to power these products. The largest company in the world is living in its own reality, dictated by a man who seemingly has no vision beyond burning cash and the environment to stay relevant.
The $96.5 Million Man:
This brings us to Satya Nadella. This year, he secured a pay package of $96.5 million.
Let’s look at what that money bought. It bought the destruction of multiple game studios. It bought the cancellation of projects that had actual fans. He stripped the company of creativity and reliable software to pivot the entire ship towards a generative AI bubble that is leaking air.
It is so bad that Nadella is now resorting to threats. Internal memos revealed he is demanding his own executives "dogfood" the AI products more aggressively. He essentially has to threaten his own employees to use the tools he is betting the company on. If the product was actually improving productivity, you wouldn't need an ultimatum to get people to open it.
✅ The Verdict
The most popular Microsoft-related software on GitHub this month wasn't a Microsoft product. It was a script called "RemoveWindowsAI."
You cannot get more out of touch with reality than this. Microsoft is spending billions to build a feature that volunteer developers are working overtime to delete.
Earlier this year, I used to think Nadella had some sort of realistic check about GenAI. I thought there was a strategy. But it is clear now, at the end of 2025, that Microsoft is the biggest GenAI clown of the year. Nadella is so afraid of missing the next big thing that he is actively destroying consumer trust and his own company to make sure he isn't left behind.
Here is a free novel idea from me to you, Microsoft. Bring back Clippy. Make him totally unhinged. Make him a traditional software so you don't need $35 billion a quarter to burn the planet just to keep him running. I guarantee you people will actually use that Clippy. I know I would.