Amazon has announced it will be scything more than 14,000 jobs as part of its efforts to streamline operations in the era of artificial intelligence.
“What we need to remember is that the world is changing quickly,” senior vice president Beth Galetti wrote in a message shared with employees Tuesday, titled, “Staying nimble and continuing to strengthen our organizations.”
“This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the internet, and it’s enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before,” she went on. “We’re convinced that we need to be organized more leanly, with fewer layers and more ownership, to move as quickly as possible for our customers and business.”
A spokesperson for Amazon insisted artificial intelligence was not the reason behind the vast majority of reductions.
“Last year, we set out to strengthen our culture and teams by reducing layers, increasing ownership, and helping reduce bureaucracy to drive speed and ownership, and be set up to invent, collaborate, be connected, and deliver the absolute best for customers,” the spokesperson told the Daily Beast. “The reductions we’re sharing today are a continuation of this work.”
The dawn of artificial intelligence has revolutionized the labor market. Entry-level positions in the U.S. have dropped by 33 percent since the start of this year as experts warn new tech innovations could eliminate up to 100 million jobs over the next decade, with blue-collar workers expected to be the worst affected.
Tuesday’s layoffs in corporate jobs came in lower than had been feared, with earlier reports suggesting 30,000 people may have been facing the axe. But it also comes amid reports of other significant firings, at retail giant Target and media conglomerate Paramount Skydance over the past few days, and at tech titan Meta, beverage manufacturer Molson Coors, and management consultant Booz Allen Hamilton.
Andy Jassy, Amazon’s chief executive, had warned about the changes in advance. In June, per The Wall Street Journal, he sent a message to employees confirming increased use of AI platforms across the country would inevitably result in terminations.
“As we roll out more generative AI and agents, it should change the way our work is done,” he wrote then. “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.”
Amazon’s ruthless crusade for efficiency has sparked significant controversy in the past. Workers at warehouses across the U.S. and Europe have routinely complained of pressure to meet strict quotas, scanning hundreds of items per hour on grueling 10 to 12-hour shifts with minimal breaks.
Journalistic investigations have documented injuries from repetitive strain and exhaustion, while whistleblowers have described “panic rooms” for employees who fall behind on productivity metrics, and some even collapsing from heat exhaustion in California’s “fulfillment centres.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to Amazon for comment on this story.
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