Amazon has announced plans to lay off 14,000 corporate employees as part of a cost-cutting initiative driven by artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
On October 28, 2025, Beth Galetti, Amazon’s senior vice-president of people, experience, and technology, informed employees that the company intends to eliminate 14,000 positions from its corporate workforce, a move enabled by their investments in AI.
In a message to employees, Galetti stated, “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 also mentioned that while further cuts are expected in the future to achieve efficiency gains, Amazon plans to continue hiring in key strategic areas through 2026.
Although specific details about the roles being cut were not provided, Galetti mentioned that most affected employees will be given a 90-day window to search for new internal positions.
Galetti highlighted AI as a major factor in the layoffs, emphasizing the transformative nature of AI technology and its role in enabling companies to innovate rapidly. She stated, “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 business.”
Referring to messages from Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, Galetti pointed to the company’s ambition to operate like a large startup and the potential of generative AI (GenAI) technologies to achieve this goal.
Jassy had previously mentioned that AI would play a significant role in reshaping Amazon’s future workforce composition, with expectations of efficiency gains leading to a reduction in the total corporate workforce over the next few years.
Amazon’s previous rounds of job cuts, including those in early 2023 and April 2024, were also influenced by the proliferation of AI and machine learning technologies in the tech sector.
Other tech companies, such as Cisco, Dell, Meta, and Intuit, have also made workforce adjustments to prioritize investments in AI technologies.
Research from the Autonomy Institute suggests that AI-led productivity gains could potentially lead to shorter working weeks for employees, but effective implementation will require concerted political action.
While AI-driven productivity gains have the potential to benefit workers and companies, challenges such as economic inequality and uneven diffusion of technology must be addressed.
Overall, the integration of AI technologies in the workforce presents both opportunities and challenges that require careful consideration and strategic planning.
