Amazon lays off 14,000 corporate employees as ‘AI’ continues to take whitecollar jobs

“What we need to remember is that the world is changing quickly. 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 in both existing market segments and entirely new ones,” Amazon senior vice president Beth Galetti wrote in the post.

“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 our business,” Galetti added. Amazon said it would continue hiring in select areas through 2026 while making cuts in others.

The layoffs are said to be the largest corporate job cuts in Amazon’s history, according to multiple outlets. Reuters, CNBC, and The Washington Post earlier reported that the total number of layoffs could reach as high as 30,000.

Amazon is the US’s second-largest private employer, with more than 1.54 million employees globally as of the end of the second quarter. The majority of that figure consists of its warehouse workforce. The company has over 350,000 corporate employees, meaning the cuts represent roughly 4 per cent of its corporate staff.

Layoffs began Tuesday and have impacted several markets, including India. Most affected employees will be given 90 days to look for new roles internally, while those unable to secure positions will receive severance pay and additional benefits.

In June, CEO Andy Jassy said in a separate blog post that efficiency gains from artificial intelligence would eventually allow the company to operate with a smaller human 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,” Jassy wrote.
Big tech companies have been trimming their core workforces for months in the name of efficiency, as AI continues to automate and supplement many roles.

Jassy, who became Amazon’s CEO in 2021, has been slashing costs across the company over the past few years. Amazon laid off 27,000 employees between 2022 and 2023, with smaller reductions continuing since then.
Like many other tech giants, Amazon overhired during the COVID-19 pandemic to meet a surge in demand for e-commerce and cloud computing services.