AI will shrink Amazon’s workforce within the coming years, CEO Jassy says

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy mentioned Tuesday that the corporate’s company workforce will shrink within the coming years because it adopts extra generative artificial intelligence instruments and brokers.

“We are going to want fewer folks doing among the jobs which might be being finished at this time, and extra folks doing different kinds of jobs,” Jassy said in a memo to employees. “It is laborious to know precisely the place this nets out over time, however within the subsequent few years, we count on that this may cut back our complete company workforce as we get effectivity positive aspects from utilizing AI extensively throughout the corporate.”

Jassy wrote that staff ought to discover ways to use AI instruments and experiment and work out “the best way to get extra finished with scrappier groups.”

The directive comes as Amazon has laid off greater than 27,000 staff since 2022 and made a number of cuts this 12 months. Amazon minimize about 200 staff in its North America stores unit in January and an additional 100 in its devices and services unit.

Amazon had 1.56 million full-time and part-time staff in its world workforce as of the top of March, according to financial filings. The corporate additionally employs short-term staff in its warehouse operations, together with some contractors.

Amazon has made big investments in AI, launching a flurry of its personal merchandise and quickly constructing out information facilities to satisfy surging demand for the expertise.

In his most recent letter to shareholders, Jassy known as generative AI a “once-in-a-lifetime reinvention of all the things we all know.” He added that the expertise is “saving firms numerous cash,” and stands to shift the norms in coding, search, monetary companies, buying and different areas.

“It is transferring sooner than nearly something expertise has ever seen,” Jassy mentioned.