News

Amazon to Reduce Corporate Workforce as Generative AI Adoption Expands

• By John K. Waters
• 06/24/2025

Amazon plans to reduce the size of its corporate workforce over the next few years as the company deepens its use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies across its business, CEO Andy Jassy said in a memo to employees on Tuesday.

Jassy outlined Amazon's growing reliance on generative AI, including the development of autonomous software "agents" that perform a wide range of tasks, from writing code to analyzing data. He said that while AI will open up new roles, it will also displace existing ones, resulting in a net reduction in the company's corporate headcount.

"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. "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."

The message comes amid ongoing restructuring efforts at Amazon. Since 2022, the company has laid off more than 27,000 workers. In 2025 alone, Amazon eliminated 200 positions in its North America Stores unit in January, and about 100 more in its Devices and Services division in May.

As of March 2025, Amazon employed roughly 1.56 million full-time and part-time workers globally. That figure includes warehouse employees and contractors who are not part of the corporate workforce referenced in Jassy's comments.

AI Deployment Across Divisions
Jassy described generative AI as a transformational technology akin to the invention of the internet, citing its expanding role in both consumer-facing and internal operations. Amazon has integrated AI into a range of products and services, such as:

• Alexa+, a redesigned voice assistant capable of performing tasks and generating intelligent responses.
• AI shopping assistants, used by tens of millions of customers.
• Product discovery tools, like image-based search ("Lens"), predictive sizing for apparel, and automated shopping across third-party sites.

The company has also introduced AI-driven tools to assist third-party sellers with product listings, to help advertisers optimize campaigns, and to power customer service chatbots.

In its fulfillment operations, Amazon is deploying AI to improve inventory forecasting and robot efficiency. These changes have already led to gains in delivery speed and cost reduction, according to the memo.

On the infrastructure side, Amazon Web Services (AWS) continues to roll out AI-focused offerings such as custom chips (Trainium2), foundation model hosting (SageMaker and Bedrock), and its proprietary large language model, Nova.

Shift Toward Autonomous Agents
Jassy emphasized the company's focus on building AI agents—autonomous tools that can perform tasks and collaborate with employees. He said these agents will reshape how work is done at Amazon, allowing smaller teams to accomplish more.

"Agents will be teammates that we can call on at various stages of our work, and that will get wiser and more helpful with more experience," Jassy said.

"It's going to make our jobs even more exciting and fun than they are today."
As part of its transformation, Amazon is developing or deploying over 1,000 generative AI services and applications. Jassy said the company would "lean in further" by accelerating agent development and embedding them across business units and corporate functions.

Industry-Wide Impact
Amazon joins a growing list of technology firms pointing to generative AI as a driver of workforce realignment. In April, a leaked memo revealed that Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke said employees would need to justify why AI could not accomplish a task before requesting additional resources. Last month, Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski said in a press release that the fintech firm reduced its headcount by 40% through AI-enabled efficiency and natural attrition.

Jassy's remarks follow his April shareholder letter, where he described generative AI as a "once-in-a-lifetime reinvention of everything we know." On Tuesday, he reiterated that the technology is advancing faster than almost any prior innovation and urged Amazon employees to embrace the shift.

"Those who become conversant in AI, help us build and improve our AI capabilities internally and deliver for customers, will be well-positioned to have high impact," he said.