Generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI agents will reduce Amazon’s staff, according to CEO Andy Jassy. In a publicly shared note to employees, Jassy said that the company’s use of generative AI and AI agents “will reduce our total corporate workforce.”
As Amazon rolls out more generative AI and AI agents, it should “change the way” work is done, Jassy stated. “We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs.”
In April, Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke said he has a “fundamental expectation” that employees at the e-commerce platform incorporate AI in their work, doubling down with new hiring policies. In May, Duolingo revealed plans to stop using contractors to do work that AI can handle.
Amazon using AI in “virtually every corner of the company”
Amazon is using generative AI in “virtually every corner of the company” to make customers lives better and easier, Jassy said. “What started as deep conviction that every customer experience would be reinvented using AI, and that altogether new experiences we’ve only dreamed of would become possible, is rapidly becoming reality.”
Technologies like generative AI are rare; they come about once-in-a-lifetime and completely change what’s possible for customers and businesses, he added. “So, we are investing quite expansively, and, the progress we are making is evident.”
From Alexa+, a next generation Alexa personal assistant that’s meaningfully smarter and more capable, an AI shopping assistant that’s being used by tens of millions of customers and an increasing array of shopping features like “Lens” and “Buy for Me” to AI advertising tools and enhanced support for independent sellers, Amazon is transforming how it serves customers and users with AI, Jassy said.
“We’re also using generative AI broadly across our internal operations. In our fulfillment network, we’re using AI to improve inventory placement, demand forecasting and the efficiency of our robots – all of which have improved cost to serve and delivery speed.”
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The rise of AI agents at Amazon
Amazon is looking to building on its widespread adoption of generative AI with the evolution of AI agents, according to Jassy. “First, we have strong conviction that AI agents will change how we all work and live,” he said. “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.”
AI agents are going to change the scope and speed at which Amazon innovates for customers. “Agents will allow us to start almost everything from a more advanced starting point. We’ll be able to focus less on rote work and more on thinking strategically about how to improve customer experiences and invent new ones. Agents will be teammates that we can call on at various stages of our work, and that will get wiser and more helpful with more experience.”
Amazon will “lean in further in the coming months,” making it much easier to build agents and then build (or partner) on several new agents across all of business units, Jassy added.
Read how Amazon uses automation and robotics to improve warehouse efficiency
Amazon’s transformative AI journey
In the next few years, Amazon expects to reduce its total corporate workforce as it achieves efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company, Jassy said. “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.”
Those that embrace this change, become conversant in AI, help Amazon build and improve AI capabilities internally and deliver for customers, will be well-positioned to have high impact and help reinvent the company, Jassy continued.
“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.”
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