“We will need fewer people…”, says Amazon CEO Andy Jassy as he confirms AI will reduce jobs

Amazon

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has told the company employees that as AI advancements take place, it will lead to shrinking of the workforce. “As we roll out more Generative AI and agents, it should change the way our work is done. We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs,” he told employees in an open letter.

Jassy also said in the next few years, he expects a reduction in Amazon’s total corporate workforce as it looks at “efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company.”

In the last three years, Amazon has cut close to 27,000 jobs and if Jassy’s words are anything to go by then the company will continue to cut jobs as it deploys AI across the board.

The Amazon CEO referred to generative AI as the most transformative technology since the Internet. “Those who embrace this change, become conversant in AI, help us build and improve our AI capabilities internally and deliver for customers, will be well-positioned to have high impact and help us reinvent the company,” he told employees.

In his letter to the employees, Jassy said that technologies like Generative AI are rare; they come about once-in-a-lifetime, “and completely change what’s possible for customers and businesses. So, we are investing quite expansively, and, the progress we are making is evident.”

“What started as deep conviction that every customer experience would be reinvented using AI, and that altogether new experiences we’ve only dreamed of would become possible, is rapidly becoming reality,” Jassy told employees.