Amazon cutting 14,000 corporate jobs amid AI investment push

Amazon has revealed plans to cut around 14,000 corporate jobs as the technology giant rapidly shifts spending towards artificial intelligence (AI).

In a message to workers, the group said the job losses come as part of efforts to reduce layer and “bureaucracy” within the company while also shifting resources to investment in areas such as as AI.

It is understood all main global operations will be impacted, with the UK among those to see office roles axed.

Amazon employs more than 1.5 million staff globally in total, of which about 350,000 are in office-based roles – while the majority of workers are in warehouse jobs.

The company employs about 75,000 people in the UK.

Beth Galetti, senior vice president of people experience and technology at Amazon, said in a message to employees: “The reductions we’re sharing today are a continuation of this work to get even stronger by further reducing bureaucracy, removing layers and shifting resources to ensure we’re investing in our biggest bets and what matters most to our customers’ current and future needs.”

She added: “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.

“We’re convicted that we need to be organised more leanly, with fewer layers and more ownership, to move as quickly as possible for our customers and business.”

The firm said it is also hiring in other areas and will offer most affected employees 90 days to look for a new role internally, with those candidates given priority.

Those unable to find new roles will be offered support including severance pay, outplacement services and health insurance benefits.

Boss Andy Jassy warned workers in June that a number of jobs in the business could be replaced by AI while he has also sought to aggressively slash costs since becoming chief executive in 2021.

The Seattle-based firm is also said to be seeking to reverse its hiring spree seen during the peak of the pandemic, when shoppers shifted their habits online.

The cuts will target roles globally including human resources, operations, devices and services, and Amazon Web Services (AWS), according to reports.

AWS is the world’s largest cloud computing provider and offers a wide variety of services, including storage, databases, machine learning and security tools.

Disruption to AWS led to outages across a wide range of internet services around the world last week, including HMRC and several banks in the UK.

Amazon has been trimming roles across the business in recent years, with cuts affecting divisions such as devices, communications and podcasting.

In the UK, it revealed plans to shut all its Amazon Fresh grocery stores last month, putting up to 250 jobs at risk.

The plans come after Mr Jassy said in June that the increased use of generative AI and AI agents, autonomous AI software systems, will reduce the size of its corporate workforce in the coming years.

In a previous note to employees, he said: “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.”