Amazon layoffs confirmed: Company to cut 14,000 corporate jobs to focus on Artificial Intelligence

Amazon announced plans to cut about 14,000 corporate and tech roles as part of a major restructuring aimed at streamlining operations and investing more deeply in artificial intelligence. The layoffs, one of the largest in Amazon’s history, are part of CEO Andy Jassy’s ongoing cost-cutting drive to make the company more efficient and focused on its biggest growth priorities.

The job cuts, which affect roughly 4 percent of Amazon’s 350,000 corporate and technology employees, will create what the company described as a “leaner and less bureaucratic” structure. Amazon said the move will help accelerate decision-making and strengthen its push into generative AI—technology it sees as central to the company’s next phase of growth.

“This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the internet,” said Beth Galetti, Amazon’s senior vice president of people experience and technology. “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 businesses.”

Amazon said affected employees will receive support, including 90 days to explore internal job opportunities. “Our recruiting teams will prioritize internal candidates to help as many people as possible find new roles within Amazon,” Galetti said in a blog post. Employees unable to find new roles or who choose not to look for one will receive severance packages, extended health benefits, and outplacement services.

The restructuring follows a series of layoffs that began in 2022, when Amazon eliminated more than 27,000 jobs after expanding rapidly during the pandemic. The company, which employs about 1.54 million people worldwide, has been rebalancing its workforce as growth slows in some areas and accelerates in others, particularly AI and cloud computing.

CEO Andy Jassy, who succeeded Jeff Bezos in 2021, has said that generative AI will reshape how Amazon operates. He told employees that the company “will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs.”

Amazon’s layoffs reflect a broader trend across the tech industry, where companies like Google, Meta, and Microsoft are using AI to automate processes, reduce costs, and reallocate resources to strategic priorities. Despite the cuts, Amazon said it will continue to hire in high-growth areas such as AI, cloud computing, and machine learning.