Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said Tuesday that the company expects artificial intelligence to “reduce our total workforce as it acquires increased efficiency.”
“There are fewer people who need to do some of the work that’s going on today, and more people will do other types of work,” Jassy added in a note to the Amazon workforce.
The CEO of the country’s second-largest retailer and employer said Amazon uses generated AI “in almost every corner of the company.”
According to its latest annual report, Amazon employs more than 1.5 million people worldwide.
This year, Amazon is planning to spend $100 billion to expand its AI services and data centers, up from last year’s $83 billion.
Jassy said he believes that what is called “AI agents” will “change how we all work and live.” “Many of these agents have not been built yet,” he said, “They are coming and coming quickly.”
He continued, “change the scope and speed at which we can innovate for our customers.”
Amazon currently has over 1,000 AI services and applications running or being built within the company.
Jussy’s comments on Tuesday could spark the fear that many business workers had, just as artificial intelligence captured the eyes of efficiency-oriented executives across American companies. A recent Bloomberg Intelligence survey said AI could replace up to 200,000 banking operations.
Andy Jussy, CEO of Amazon.com Inc. in New York on February 26th (Michael Naggle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Artificial intelligence has also been shown to be effective in coding software programs.
Cybersecurity company Cloud Strike eliminated 5% of its workforce in May and said AI is pushing for “efficiency at both the frontline and back office.”
Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke said the e-commerce company managers are expected to prove that they can’t “get what they want to do with AI” before seeking more people.
“Having AI alongside travel and working for merchants as well as consulting is a surprising change in step function here,” Lutke added.
Language learning company Duolingo recently said it would replace contract workers with artificial intelligence. “We’re gradually stopping using contractors to do work that AI can handle,” CEO Louis von Anne wrote in a note to Duolingo employees in May. “The staff is only given if the team can’t automate the work more,” added Von Ann.
The CEO of UK Telecom Giant BT said this week that it plans to cut 40,000 jobs from the company’s workforce over the next decade.
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