Amazon's chief executive says ai to reduce number of workers needed
PORTLAND (Oregon) — Amazon's management said on Tuesday that it expects that artificial intelligence (AI) software will reduce the number of office workers at the world's largest online retailer, German news agency (dpa) reported.
'We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs,' Amazon chief executive Andy Jassy wrote in an email to employees.
He said it is difficult to predict how the overall workforce will evolve, but 'in the next few years', it is expected that AI efficiency gains will lead to fewer office workers.
Amazon employs around 1.5 million people worldwide, with approximately 350,000 office employees in various roles, according to earlier reports.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the company does not anticipate further large-scale layoffs — as were seen in 2022 and 2023 — in the near future. Instead, it expects that vacant positions will not be refilled. However, layoffs are not ruled out, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Amazon is focusing on so-called AI agents: software capable of independently performing tasks. These agents could, for example, summarise information from the web and data sources, write software, translate languages and automate many time-consuming tasks, Jassy explained.
'Agents will be teammates that we can call on at various stages of our work,' he added, urging employees to experiment with AI whenever possible.
How AI will affect the job market has been a concern for many years. Recently Spotify, the leader in music streaming, announced that teams requesting additional staff would first need to prove that AI could not perform the tasks.
The creators of the language-learning app Duolingo plan to gradually replace external workers with AI. — BERNAMA-dpa
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