Amazon CEO Andy Jassy's AI-Led Job Cuts Warning Sparks Backlash As Employee Reportedly Says 'It's Clearly Part Of The Plan'

Amazon.com Inc. AMZN CEO Andy Jassy announced Tuesday that artificial intelligence will reduce the company’s corporate workforce due to efficiency gains, prompting immediate criticism from employees across internal communication channels.

What Happened: Jassy told employees that AI will shrink Amazon’s white-collar workforce over the next few years. According to Business Insider, which viewed internal Slack messages across three channels, employees criticized the announcement.

“There is nothing more motivating on a Tuesday than reading that your job will be replaced by AI in a few years,” one employee wrote. Others questioned whether senior leadership would face similar reductions, noting Amazon’s S-team has expanded under Jassy.

Some employees supported the move. “At least he said the quiet part out loud,” another worker commented. “We all knew it but now it’s clearly part of the plan.”

Jassy highlighted in his Tuesday blog post that Amazon has over 1,000 generative AI services and applications in progress. The company’s AI-driven Alexa+ serves tens of millions of customers worldwide, while over 50,000 advertisers used AI capabilities in the first quarter alone.

Amazon did not immediately respond to Benzinga's request for comment.

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Why It Matters: The announcement comes amid Amazon’s massive AI infrastructure investments. The company committed $13 billion to expand Australia’s data center infrastructure through 2029, following recent commitments including $10 billion in North Carolina.

In April, Jassy called AI investments a “once-in-a-lifetime reinvention of everything we know,” emphasizing the need for substantial capital to secure AI chips and build data centers during high-demand periods.

Amazon froze retail hiring budgets this year while expanding AI capabilities, according to the report.

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