Amazon says it expects to cut human workers and replace them with AI

• Amazon CEO Andy Jassy urges workers to be "curious about AI"
• It has has 1,000+ AI services and apps in development or in use
• GenAI and agentic AI could lead to job losses at Amazon

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has announced advancements in AI, and the technology's integration across many of the company's operations, will likely reduce the firm's headcount over the next five years due to efficiency gains.

In a letter to workers, CEO Andy Jassy boasted that more than 1,000 AI services and apps area already in progress or built, and many more are to come.

Jassy name-dropped a few of the successful deployments and upcoming rollouts, including its next-generation smart personal assistant Alexa+, the AI Shopping Assistant, seller tools and advertiser tools.

Amazon blames AI for future layoffs

Ultimately, artificial intelligence could end up changing the nature of work, requiring fewer people in some roles but more in others.

The ecommerce giant has already laid off an estimated 27,000 workers since 2022, including recent cuts in devices, services and books divisions, but it seems that widespread tech layoffs could be far from over for Amazonians.

AI has also proven instrumental in allowing Amazon to improve its inventory, forecasting, robot efficiency and customer service, but Jassy's letter remained consistent with one key theme – a strong emphasis on internal productivity improvements through the use of generative and agentic AI.

With capabilities spanning task completion, research, code writing and workflow automation, Jassy sees AI agents are critical for faster innovation and better customer experiences, however the downside of that is that the tech will enable leaner teams to achieve more, reducing the need for as many workers.

Despite the threat of AI taking their roles, Jassy urged workers to be "curious" about the tech, experiment and innovate with it, and further their learning.

"We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs.," Jassy explained. "It’s hard to know exactly where this nets out over time, but in the next few years, we expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce."

Jassy's comment about knowing where this nets out in the future is a relevant one. Although many experts predict that AI could lead to net job creation, it could mean that some companies (like Amazon) end up reducing their headcount, while others see growth.

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