AI at Microsoft has not been optional for months.

This is org-specific and role-specific, but it’s becoming more and more pushed onto people (as is evident by this article).

when they need to find someone’s department

This information is both present in most internal communication tools (org chart), and in the internal directory. Hopefully your friend found it.

Everything else sounds horrible, and I hope your friend is doing better now.

(Sauce: “I know a guy”)