Amazon chief executive officer Andy Jassy outlined a near future where AI will “make our jobs even more exciting and fun than they are today” — but at the same time, he said, the technology will cut the overall number of jobs at the ecommerce giant.
In a memo Tuesday to Amazon employees, Jassy shared “Some thoughts on Generative AI.”
“As we roll out more Generative AI and agents, it should change the way our work is done,” the CEO said. “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 as we get efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company.”
As of the end of March, Amazon reported 1.56 million employees, up 3% from a year earlier. Jassy encouraged Amazon employees to “be curious about AI” and “educate yourself.”
“As we go through this transformation together, be curious about AI, educate yourself, attend workshops and take trainings, use and experiment with AI whenever you can, participate in your team’s brainstorms to figure out how to invent for our customers more quickly and expansively, and how to get more done with scrappier teams,” Jassy wrote.
Nine months ago, Jassy informed Amazon’s corporate staffers they were expected to report to the office five days per week, so the company will be “better set up to invent, collaborate, and be connected enough to each other and our culture to deliver the absolute best for customers and the business.”
Today, Amazon is investing “quite expansively” in generative AI, according to Jassy’s June 17 memo. The company has more than 1,000 generative AI services and applications in progress or built to date, “but at our scale, that’s a small fraction of what we will ultimately build,” the CEO said.
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“There’s so much more to come with Generative AI. I’m energized by our progress, excited about our plans ahead, and looking forward to partnering with you all as we change what’s possible for our customers, partners, and how we work,” Jassy wrote.
Jassy took over the role of Amazon’s CEO in July 2021 from founder Jeff Bezos, who is now executive chairman. After joining the company in 1997, Jassy started the Amazon Web Services group and led it for nearly 20 years.
From Variety US