Amazon is cutting 14,000 jobs as it leans into generative AI
By Alex Valdes | Published: 2025-10-29 21:21:00 | Source: CNET
Just one week after the report came out Amazon wanted to do Replace 75% of its workforce with robotsthe online retail giant announced that it will lay off 14,000 employees to reduce “bureaucracy” and invest in “our biggest bets” – which are, artificial intelligence.
“This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we have seen since the Internet, and is enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before (in existing market segments and entirely new ones),” Beth Galletti, senior vice president of People Experience and Technology, said in a report. Blog post Tuesday. “We are convinced that we need to organize more agilely, with fewer layers and more ownership, to move as quickly as possible to the benefit of our clients and our business.”
But an Amazon spokesperson said AI can’t be blamed for most of the job losses.
“AI is not the reason for the vast majority of the cuts,” a company representative told CNET. The spokesperson said the cuts are part of the company’s efforts to “reduce layers, increase ownership, help reduce bureaucracy to increase speed and ownership, and prepare to innovate, collaborate, communicate, and deliver the absolute best to customers.”
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Citing information from Amazon workers, Reuters said that Amazon’s departments were the most affected It will be the devices, the ads, Prime VideoHuman Resources and Amazon Web Services. Twitch was also reportedly affected.
Today’s major layoffs at Amazon impact Twitch.
The exact number is unknown at this time, but some affected individuals have been notified, and an internal email indicates it will be a “small number.” pic.twitter.com/KOsGAG3P7G– Zach Bussey (@zachbussey) October 28, 2025
Reuters also reported that there will be more job cuts in the future, bringing the total job losses to 30,000.
Layoffs are said to be The largest in Amazon historyand comes just months after CEO Andy Jassy He outlined his vision To find out how the company is rapidly ramping up its development Generative artificial intelligence and Artificial intelligence agents. The discounts are the latest in A wave of layoffs this year Tech giants, including Microsoft, Accenture, Salesforce and India’s TCS, have cut their workforce by the thousands in what has become a frenzied push to invest in artificial intelligence.
In a report released earlier in October, it was expected that the global AI infrastructure market will be mainly driven by the need for… Building huge data centers — Will grow from $26.18 billion in 2024 to $221.40 billion by 2034At an annual growth rate of approximately 24%.
Amazon is the third-largest employer in the United States, but it is also turning to robotic workers. The e-commerce giant already has More than a million robots It operates its own delivery and fulfillment network – two-thirds of the company’s human workforce. Amazon reportedly wants to automate 75% of its operations. A CNBC report said that Amazon It could save $4 billion annually if it automates as much as it plans to in its warehouses.
Key to Amazon’s automation plans is a rapid and massive investment in artificial intelligence. In his June 17 blog post, Jassy said: “Today, we have over 1,000 generative AI services and applications in progress or built, but at our scale, this is a small fraction of what we will eventually build. We will focus more in the coming months.”
AI agents will be able to perform countless tasks, accelerate innovation, and help Amazon remain “customer-obsessed, innovative, agile, lean, and volatile,” Jassy said.
Those things won’t matter much to the thousands of Amazon employees who lost their jobs on Tuesday. Christy Coulter, a former Amazon employee of 12 years and author of the book Exit Interview: The Life and Death of My Ambitious CareerThe company was criticized in a Post on LinkedIn. RTO stands for “return to the office,” a reference to the fact that Amazon recently made all employees stop working from home.
Wait, I’m sorry: Amazon made people move, change their kids’ schools, bookend their days with RTO traffic only to fire them via a 3am text message? What happened to the atmosphere and conversations that only being together in an office can allow?
“The next big wave”
Longtime technology industry analyst Paolo Pescatore of PP Foresight He says the layoffs represent an opportunity to streamline operations and invest in AI infrastructure.
“Layoffs tend to be cyclical, and here lies the opportunity to streamline operations before the next big wave driven by AI,” Pescatore told CNET. “As capital expenditures rise, companies are watching margins closely. Having said that, we are now seeing the first signs of this battle for supremacy emerge as companies compete to attract top talent from key competitors.”
Pescatore also said that concerns about the effects of tariffs and regulatory uncertainty in the United States and Europe are also partly to blame for the layoffs.
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