Amazon bosses have told staff that some employees will lose their jobs over the coming years as they step up the use of Artificial Intelligence.
The company employs around 1.5m people around the world, with more than 60,000 estimated to be working in the UK.
A memo from chief executive Andy Jassy to staff did not clarify the number of roles which would be handed over to AI control, but said there would be an inevitable change over what work would be carried out by people and what could be left to agentic AI.
“As we roll out more generative AI and agents, it should change the way our work is done,” read the memo. “We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs. 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.”
Earlier this month, BT announced similar intentions to slim down the workforce by the end of the decade through roles and assignments being taken on by AI.
BT had already planned to remove 40,000-50,000 jobs but CEO Allison Kirkby said those numbers didn’t “reflect the full potential of AI” and that learnings over the coming years could trim back the headcount even further.
Elsewhere, buy now pay later firm Klarna cut 700 jobs to use AI instead, but later announced plans to hire them back as customer service levels dropped.
Mr Jassy’s memo to Amazon staff encouraged them to be “curious” about AI and embrace its potential, to bring more value to both their own professional and personal lives.
“While we’ve made a lot of progress, we’re still at the relative beginning. We have strong conviction that AI agents will change how we all work and live.
“There will be billions of these agents, across every company and in every imaginable field. There will also be agents that routinely do things for you outside of work, from shopping to travel to daily chores and tasks. Many of these agents have yet to be built, but make no mistake, they’re coming, and coming fast.
“Those who embrace this change, 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 and help us reinvent the company,” he said.
