New York —Amazon is laying off 16,000 employees, marking its second major round of job cuts in three months as it pushes to stay competitive in the race for artificial intelligence.
In a blog post published Wednesday, the company said it needs to cut red tape to speed up decision-making.
“We’ve been working to strengthen our organization by reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy,” said Beth Galetti, Amazon’s senior vice president of people.
In late October, Amazon announced it would cut 14,000 corporate jobs, following CEO Andy Jassy’s push to run the company more like a startup. Jassy has said Amazon needs to stay flexible as AI rapidly reshapes the tech industry.
Amazon is the second-largest private employer in the US, behind Walmart. It has more than 350,000 corporate employees, according to a 2024 filing with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Combined, the recent layoffs account for about 9% of Amazon’s office workforce.
Galetti said the layoffs will not become a “new rhythm,” despite Jassy’s earlier comments that AI could reduce headcount over time. Instead, Amazon is reviewing “ownership, speed, and capacity to invent for customers” and adjusting as needed.
She added that the company will continue hiring in areas seen as critical to its future.
Amazon is competing with Microsoft, Google, Meta, OpenAI, and others to build the computing power and large language models expected to drive the next phase of the economy. While that effort is costly, Jassy has said the layoffs are focused on efficiency, not cost-cutting.
The job cuts will begin Wednesday. Most affected employees will have 90 days to seek other roles within Amazon. Those who are not rehired will receive severance pay and additional benefits.
The layoffs were first communicated to staff Tuesday night in an internal email. The message appeared to be sent accidentally, as it referenced the blog post before it was published Wednesday morning.
Separately, Amazon announced Tuesday that it will close its Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go grocery businesses as it shifts focus to Whole Foods.
AI’s impact
Jassy has repeatedly spoken about AI’s effect on Amazon’s workforce. Last year, he told employees that productivity gains from AI would allow the company to operate with fewer people.
“As we roll out more Generative AI and agents, it should change the way our work is done,” Jassy wrote. “We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs.”
He said Amazon is not alone, predicting billions of AI agents will be used across industries.
“Many of these agents have yet to be built, but make no mistake, they’re coming, and coming fast,” he said.
Despite concerns that AI is replacing white-collar workers, a recent report from Vanguard suggests those fears may be overstated.
The investment firm found that jobs highly exposed to AI automation are growing faster than they did before the pandemic, and faster than other occupations.
That does not mean workers are in the clear. Some companies have said they are cutting roles because AI can handle entry-level tasks or boost efficiency.
Still, there is no evidence yet that AI is causing widespread job losses.
