After millions of people worldwide were caught up in a major Microsoft outage on Friday, it has renewed warnings about the vulnerability of digital infrastructure, and our propensity to be overly reliant on it.

The technology giant’s services were brought to a halt following company-wide outages, with the cause still yet to be confirmed; however, they have announced they don't believe it to be due to hackers or cyberattacks, amid growing speculation.

Microsoft outage leaves millions impacted

Credit: Witthaya Prasongsin / Getty

The blackout has meant that thousands of businesses who utilize their resources, including Outlook and Microsoft Teams, as well as its cloud-based platforms, have been unable to get online.

According to outage tracking website DownDetector, in the US alone, over 130,000 people reported issues with accessing Outlook, with further reports coming from another 74 countries and territories.

In a statement posted on X, the company said it was “aggressively pursuing all pathways to reduce impact”, adding that it was restarting affected servers in an attempt to bring them back online, albeit one would expect it may take more than simply turning it off and on again.

With the server outage continuing into Friday, the company has since said there is no indication that the outage was caused by a cyberattack, with the problem appearing to stem from its own infrastructure.

But while the incident may not have been the result of malicious activity, it has exposed a much bigger concern about the world's reliance on interconnected technology, and has issued a warning about a potential 'cyberpandemic', suggesting that the consequences of digital disruption could extend far beyond inaccessible emails and calls.

The list of Microsoft services potentially affected by the outage is extensive, and alongside Outlook and Microsoft Teams, issues have been reported involving SharePoint Online, Microsoft Copilot 365, Microsoft Planner, and Exchange Online.

Microsoft Defender, the company's cloud-based cybersecurity service, was also included among the potentially affected products.

The outage points towards wider 'cyberpandemic' issue

Credit: Hugh R Hastings/Getty Images

The real-world consequences have reportedly stretched across several industries, but the most concerning have been around healthcare, government departments, and education.

A separate warning about a potential 'cyberpandemic' argues that society is not sufficiently prepared for the scale of devastation that could follow a major cyber incident.

The concern is not necessarily that hackers will need increasingly sophisticated technology or artificial intelligence to bring systems down. Instead, the warning points to a much more ordinary problem: known security weaknesses, outdated equipment, and organizations failing to take responsibility for protecting the systems they operate.

Last month, cyberattacks targeted refrigeration systems in around 300 French supermarkets, with the attackers reportedly manipulating refrigeration controllers, triggering extended defrost cycles, and causing temperatures inside freezers and cold-storage rooms to rise dramatically, costing supermarkets millions of dollars, as well as creating tons of wastage.

Investigators identified software controlling refrigeration systems supplied by Danish company Danfoss as the entry point, though the company claimed many of the affected units were obsolete products that had reached the end of their life and were no longer receiving software or security updates.

Although investigators have not established whether those specific vulnerabilities were used in the attack, the incident raises serious questions about why aging equipment remained exposed.

The common thread running through these incidents is the vulnerability created when organizations fail to properly secure the systems they depend on, with the wider 'cyberpandemic' warning arguing that the problem is not simply a lack of technology capable of preventing attacks.

Instead, it discusses the ‘accountability gap’, where the responsibility for a single company’s cybersecurity can feasibly be spread between multiple providers.

The World Economic Forum's Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2025 identified overlapping responsibilities and limited visibility into supplier security as factors contributing to cyber risk.

When several different organizations are responsible for maintaining parts of the same system, it can become difficult to establish who is ultimately accountable for keeping it secure.

The warning argues: “When responsibility is spread across vendors, regulators, operators, and boards, it belongs to no one in practise.”

And while Microsoft's outage appears to have been caused by an internal technical failure rather than an attack, it highlights the consequences of relying on a single provider for services that businesses and public institutions increasingly consider essential.

The warning argues that the problem is ultimately one of governance rather than technology.

Featured Image Credit: Witthaya Prasongsin / Getty

Microsoft has seen its services around the world stall and become disrupted for users, and now it says it hasn’t found a fix just yet.

Outage-tracking site Downdetector reports it first detected problems just after 4:15PM GMT on Thursday, November 12.

There, Outlook’s reported issues reached nearly 140,000 around 6PM GMT, in 74 countries within one hour.

With email, calendars, and AI tools around the globe suddenly not working as they should, per the BBC, Microsoft has since pegged the issue to 'elevated load' across its infrastructure due to servers becoming 'unexpectedly unavailable' and pushing their traffic into other servers.

However, what the company thought might fix it hasn’t worked out, leaving many in the lurch.

Microsoft services have been disrupted worldwide. Credit: Hugh R Hastings/Getty Images

Microsoft executive Charles Lamanna said that thankfully, the problem wasn’t caused by a cybersecurity incident; however, regaining services has been ‘difficult’.

He wrote on X: "We regret that today's outages caused disruptions for our customers, and we are working to address the issue."

Getting services back has proved difficult. Microsoft first said it was seeing 'positive results' from efforts to restart systems, but later said the fixes were not working 'as expected.”

Evidently, this disruption is having a varied impact on local, national, and global services.

Microsoft is working on a fix. Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Today might just be the day we all realize how many companies use Microsoft services, because it’s probably more than you’d think.

For example, OpenAI said it was investigating an issue that was blocking its connections to Microsoft's services, and another AI company, Anthropic, said it had identified an issue regarding Microsoft 365.

It has also had an alleged impact on the UK’s ambulance service, as the GMB union told the BBC the Microsoft outage has been ‘serious’.

Rachel Harrison, the union's national secretary, told the outlet: “Those who work in 111 and 999 services are unable to refer patient details in the normal way, which is creating a massive backlog and has the potential for chaos."

Clinical and operational systems in the NHS, however, appear to be working, per the chief executive of the NHS Alliance.

The NHS confirmed its services were impacted. Credit: Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images

Ciarán Devane said the NHS is trying its best to work around it, noting: "NHS leaders and their teams are working hard to minimize disruption, maintain essential services and support staff and patients who may be affected.

"NHS organizations have workarounds in place when email is unavailable, so contingencies are in place to manage situations like this," he said.

In an update by Microsoft at 9:30AM, it said it is seeing ‘early signs of stabilization,’ but service capacity has ‘not yet returned to normal levels.’

"As part of this effort, we are extending the email timeout window to 48 hours to help protect delayed messages while service recovery continues," the statement states.

Microsoft said it is continuing to ‘treat this with urgency,’ and will share a full report after the incident is resolved so that users can see what caused the problem.

VT has contacted Microsoft for comment.

Featured image credit: Hugh R Hastings/Getty Images

Shortly after Bill Gates announced that there are only four careers that will survive the takeover of artificial intelligence, it was revealed that Microsoft has sacked 60,000 members of staff.

Voluntary severance packages were offered to more than a quarter of its workforce earlier this month, despite the company making a $133.75 billion profit last year (a 31% increase from the previous year).

Bill Gates has revealed the jobs he believes will survive AI. Credit: Bryan Bedder / Getty

Microsoft's mass redundancy comes as AI is more cost-efficienent

According to a blog post leaked by Business Insider, Microsoft said: "This (buyout) offer will be available to eligible employees in participating teams in Canada, India, the United Kingdom and the United States at level 70 and below."

The company's chief people officer Amy Coleman added: “This is a time-limited, voluntary program that gives those who are eligible the opportunity to leave Microsoft with financial support and career planning resources.

“Eligible employees will receive an email with a link to their Voluntary Exit Offer details within the next few hours.”

The shocking number of redundancies comes shortly after billionaire founder Bill Gates discussed the dismal future of industry and career prospects on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon.

Gates, 70, tragically claimed that only coders, biologists, energy workers, and professional athletes will survive the terrifying technological takeover that will come with the advancement of AI.

He said: "You know, like baseball. We won't want to watch computers play baseball."

When asked if the world will still need humans, chillingly he replied: "Not for most things - we'll decide.

"So there'll be some things that we reserve for ourselves, but in terms of making things and moving things, and growing food, over time, those will be basically solved problems."

To make matters worse, Microsoft released a list of the 40 jobs most at risk of being taken over by AI last year, and mine sits in a top spot at number 10...

Microsoft has sacked thousands of staff in favour of AI. Credit: Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Here are the top 10 jobs most at risk from AI:

1. Interpreters and translators — 98%
2. Historians — 91%
3. Mathematicians — 91%
4. Proofreaders — 91%
5. Automatic machine coders — 90%
6. Writers and authors — 85%
7. Statistical assistants — 85%
8. Sales representatives — 84%
9. Technical writers — 83%
10. Journalists — 81%

However, one reassuring thing that can be taken from the list is that it only shows how well AI can complete tasks related to specific jobs, rather than being competent at the entire job description.

Even more worryingly, SpaceX founder Elon Musk told the 2026 G20 summit in North Carolina in August that there will be at least one billion robots within the next decade, and that they will be more productive than the entire human race.

He told the crowd of world leaders: “10 years from now, I would say there are well over a billion humanoid robots. The productivity per robot will be probably five times that of a human.”

Featured image credit: Credit: Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

As artificial intelligence continues to transform industries around the world, Bill Gates believes there are still certain careers that machines are unlikely to take over.

The Microsoft co-founder, who helped revolutionize personal computing and shape modern technology, shared his views on AI during an interview with The Indian Express. Gates identified three professions he believes will remain relatively safe from automation: biologists, energy experts, and programmers.

What has Gates predicted?

Bill Gates has provided an update on which jobs will be safe from AI. Credit: Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Gates argued that biology relies heavily on human creativity, intuition, and original thinking. While AI can help researchers process data and accelerate discoveries, he believes it still struggles to replicate the innovative thinking that drives many of humanity's greatest breakthroughs.

The same principle applies to energy specialists and software developers, according to Gates. Although artificial intelligence is highly effective at analyzing information and managing large datasets, Gates suggests it lacks the adaptability and problem-solving abilities needed to tackle complex energy challenges or create sophisticated software systems.

Gates has regularly spoken out about the future of AI

As AI becomes increasingly integrated into everyday life, Gates has frequently spoken about both its opportunities and limitations. While he expects the technology to automate many tasks, he believes some professions will continue to depend on uniquely human skills.

During a separate appearance with Jimmy Fallon, Gates suggested that professional athletes may also be protected from being replaced by AI.

"You know, like baseball. We won't want to watch computers play baseball," he said.

Gates added that while certain activities will remain distinctly human, many practical challenges could eventually become largely automated.

"So there'll be some things that we reserve for ourselves, but in terms of making things and moving things, and growing food, over time, those will be basically solved problems."

While opinions differ on how much AI will reshape the workforce, Gates believes careers that rely on creativity, innovation and human judgment are likely to remain valuable long into the future.

Featured Image. Credit: Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Mark Zuckerberg has pushed back against Bill Gates' prediction that only four careers will not be replaced by AI.

The Meta CEO offered an optimistic outlook on the future during a live interview on Complex's Idea Generation platform.

The 42-year-old argued that job losses are not inevitable if artificial intelligence is developed to help people rather than replace them.

"I think that people assume that that's inevitability. I don't actually think it is," he said.

Mark Zuckerberg has pushed back against Bill Gates' prediction. Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Zuckerberg doesn't believe mass job losses are inevitable

The Facebook founder argued that the direction AI takes will depend on how companies choose to develop it.

Rather than focusing on replacing workers with automation, he said businesses should prioritize what he called "personal super intelligence" to make individuals more productive.

He also warned that a future dominated by only a handful of companies automating knowledge work would not be the best outcome.

"If you have a balance where some companies are focused on making it so that companies can work more efficiently, but others are focused on more of this personal super intelligence vision where you're like empowering individuals and making people more productive at each step along the way, then I think it's probably going to be pretty good," he said.

"If you focus on empowering people and making people more productive and that happens at a faster rate than companies get better at automating things, then in theory there should be more jobs in the future, not less," he added.

Bill Gates said only four jobs are safe from AI. Credit: Bryan Bedder/Getty

Bill Gates believes only a few careers are protected

Zuckerberg's comments come in response to Gates' recent predictions about which professions are least likely to be replaced by AI.

Speaking to The Indian Express, the Microsoft co-founder argued that careers requiring creativity, innovation, and complex problem-solving remain relatively safe.

He also said biologists will continue to play an important role because scientific breakthroughs still rely on human intuition and original thinking, even if AI helps examine data.

He also believes programmers and energy experts have skills that AI cannot yet fully replicate.

During a separate appearance with Jimmy Fallon, Gates suggested that professional athletes are also unlikely to be replaced.

"You know, like baseball. We won't want to watch computers play baseball," he said in a separate appearance with Jimmy Fallon.

"So there'll be some things that we reserve for ourselves, but in terms of making things and moving things, and growing food, over time, those will be basically solved problems," he added.

Other experts have issued even darker predictions

Not everyone shares Zuckerberg's optimism, as a Microsoft study published last year identified 40 occupations with the highest overlap with AI tools, although senior Microsoft researcher Kiran Tomlinson later clarified to Sky News that the research examined "which job categories can productively use AI chatbots, not take away or replace jobs."

Among the professions with the highest AI overlap were interpreters and translators (98 percent), historians (91 percent), mathematicians (91 percent), proofreaders (91 percent), automatic machine coders (90 percent), writers and authors (85 percent), statistical assistants (85 percent), sales representatives (84 percent), technical writers (83 percent) and journalists (81 percent).

Meanwhile, AI researcher Dr Roman Yampolskiy predicted in an interview with podcaster Steven Bartlett that artificial general intelligence could arrive within the next 12 months.

He also claimed that when combined with advances in humanoid robotics, "it makes no sense to hire humans for most jobs."

"In five years all the physical labour can also be automated," he added.

"So we're looking at a world where we have levels of unemployment we never seen before...Not talking about 10 percent unemployment which is scary but 99 percent."

Featured image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images