Amazon hyperlinks deliberate mass layoff to AI

Amazon plans to put off 14,000 workers amid a man-made intelligence (AI)-enabled cost-cutting drive.

On 28 October 2025, Amazon’s senior vice-president of individuals, expertise and know-how Beth Galetti confirmed to workers that the e-commerce behemoth plans to axe 14,000 roles from its company workforce, one thing she specified has been prompted and enabled by the agency’s AI investments.

“The reductions we’re sharing right now are a continuation of this work to get even stronger by additional lowering forms, eradicating layers and shifting sources to make sure we’re investing in our largest bets and what issues most to our prospects’ present and future wants,” she mentioned in a message despatched to workers.

Whereas Galetti signalled additional cuts down the road as the corporate searches for additional methods to “realise effectivity good points”, she additionally mentioned that Amazon expects “to proceed hiring in key strategic areas” by means of 2026.

Though she didn’t give any indication of what roles are being lower, from which enterprise models or the place they are going to be positioned globally, she mentioned most workers being let go will probably be provided a 90-day window to search for new roles internally.

Galetti explicitly cited AI as a key issue contributing to the layoffs. “Some could ask why we’re lowering roles when the corporate is performing nicely … What we have to keep in mind is that the world is altering shortly,” she mentioned.

“This era of AI is probably the most transformative know-how we’ve seen for the reason that web, and it’s enabling corporations to innovate a lot sooner than ever earlier than (in current market segments and altogether new ones). We’re convicted that we have to be organised extra leanly, with fewer layers and extra possession, to maneuver as shortly as doable for our prospects and enterprise.”

Galetti additionally referenced and linked to 2 earlier worker messages from Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. Within the first, from September 2024, Jassy outlined the corporate’s ambitions “to function just like the world’s largest startup”, whereas within the second, from June 2025, he evangelised the “once-in-a-lifetime” potential of generative AI (GenAI) applied sciences to attain this.

Highlighting how “AI will probably be a considerable catalyst” reshaping Amazon’s future workforce composition, Jassy mentioned in June 2025 that over the subsequent few years, “we count on that this can scale back our complete company workforce as we get effectivity good points from utilizing AI extensively throughout the corporate”.

He concluded by encouraging workers to “be curious” and “educate your self” concerning the know-how’s potential: “Those that embrace this transformation, change into accustomed to AI, assist us construct and enhance our AI capabilities internally and ship for patrons, will probably be well-positioned to have excessive influence and assist us reinvent the corporate.”

Amazon’s final main spherical of job cuts got here in early 2023. Whereas the corporate sought to initially lower 18,000 jobs from its workforce in January that 12 months, citing over-hiring through the Covid-19 pandemic, an additional 9,000 cuts had been introduced that March, bringing the full to 27,000. An extra spherical of job losses, which affected a number of hundred tech and gross sales employees at Amazon Net Companies (AWS) particularly, got here in April 2024.

From January to August 2024 1000’s of tech sector jobs had been axed, with many tech companies explicitly linking the layoffs going down to the proliferation of AI and machine studying all through their companies.

This included Cisco, which lower 7% of its workforce whereas investing $1bn in AI-related startups; Dell, which lower gross sales roles to reallocate sources to its AI groups; Meta, which, based on CEO Mark Zuckerberg, laid workers off “so we will put money into these long-term, formidable visions round AI”; and Intuit, which lower 1,800 employees to unlock extra sources for integrating AI into its software program choices.

In November 2023, the Autonomy Institute assume tank argued that though automating jobs with massive language fashions (LLMs) might result in important reductions in working time with out a lack of pay or productiveness, realising the advantages of AI-driven productiveness good points on this method would require concerted political motion.

In a paper printed 20 November 2023, Autonomy forecast that AI-led productiveness good points might allow 8.8 million UK staff to have a four-day work week by 2033, whereas just below 28 million might have their working hours lowered by 10% in the identical time, if LLMs are deployed in the precise method.

“Our analysis gives a recent perspective in debates round how AI could be utilised for good,” mentioned Autonomy’s director of analysis, Will Stronge, on the time. “A shorter working week is probably the most tangible method of making certain that AI delivers advantages to staff in addition to corporations. If AI is to be carried out pretty throughout the economic system, it ought to usher in a brand new period of four-day working weeks for all.”

Autonomy famous that though folks have lengthy been predicting and anticipating far shorter working weeks resulting from technological advances, historic will increase in productiveness over current many years haven’t translated into elevated wealth or leisure time for most individuals, largely on account of financial inequality.

It mentioned there may be typically a way of pessimism round AI-driven productiveness good points, with most conversations emphasising the potential for job losses and degraded working situations, however that such good points may be used to ship shorter working weeks for a lot of whereas additionally sustaining their pay and efficiency.

Nevertheless, Autonomy was clear that productiveness good points usually are not at all times shared evenly between employers and workers, and rely upon “geographic, demographics, financial cycle and different intrinsic job market components” akin to staff’ entry to collective bargaining.

“It is a paper that identifies a chance and never a future. The precise diffusion and adoption of know-how is at all times uneven, pushed by quite a lot of components: wage ranges, authorities coverage, ranges of sector monopolisation, commerce union density and so forth,” it mentioned.