Amazon to Dump 30K Corporate Workers–Is A.I. Partly to Blame?

AI keeps being touted as this catch-all, be-all tool for businesses to run better and be more productive; to help the 'human' workforce. But increasingly it's looking otherwise. It appears, especially in the tech industry, every time we turn around, humans are being replaced by AI.

  Amazon announces plans to gas 30K corporate workers.

According to Geekwire and Reuters, the company plans a sweeping  series of layoffs at  the corporate level, as many as 30K workers. The company claims its to cut expenses and to reel back from over-hiring during COVID.   However, the company, much like Microsoft, is investing  billions in AI development.

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According to Geekwire:

"The reported cuts come as Amazon is investing heavily in artificial intelligence. The company said earlier this year it expects to increase capital expenditures to more than $100 billion in 2025, up from $83 billion in 2024, with a majority going toward building out capacity for AI in AWS."  

As of June 30th, Amazon employed, worldwide, about 1.54 million people, with an estimated 50,000 corporate and tech workers in the Seattle area alone. CEO  Andy Jassy admitted a lot of emphasis is being placed on developing AI in the company: (from a previous release)

“We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs."

Sources also indicate the company plans to heavily automate its warehouses by 2033, with as much as 75 percent of functions operated by AI.  The robotics team reportedly plans to automate as much as possible, to avoid having to hire what  the New York Times reported as many as 600K workers over  the next decade.

The current layoffs will affect video games, logistics, payments and Amazon Web Services.