Item 1 of 2 Packages travel on a conveyor at the Amazon’s fulfillment center in Robbinsville, New Jersey, U.S., November 27, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Segar
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An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment.
Jobs in the company’s Amazon Web Services, retail, Prime Video and human resources, known as People Experience and Technology, units are slated to be affected, the people said, though the full scope was unclear. The people cautioned that the details of Amazon’s plans could change.
PREVIOUS CUTS TIED TO AI
However, CEO Andy Jassy later told analysts during the company’s third-quarter earnings call that the reduction was “not really financially driven and it’s not even really AI-driven.” Rather, he said, “it’s culture,” meaning the company has too much bureaucracy.
“You end up with a lot more people than what you had before, and you end up with a lot more layers,” he said.
Corporations are increasingly using AI to write code for their software and adopting AI agents that automate routine tasks, as they look to save costs and cut reliance on people. Amazon touted its latest AI models during its annual AWS cloud computing conference in December.
The full 30,000 jobs would represent a small portion of Amazon’s 1.58 million employees, but nearly 10% of the firm’s corporate workforce. The majority of Amazon’s workers are in fulfillment centers and warehouses.
It would be the largest layoff in Amazon’s three-decade history. The company trimmed about 27,000 jobs in 2022.
Affected workers in October were told they would remain on the payroll for 90 days, during which time they could apply for jobs internally or seek other employment. That period expires on Monday.
Reporting by Greg Bensinger; Editing by David Gregorio, Rod Nickel
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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