New Delhi, January 23 (IANS). American e-commerce giant Amazon may start the second round of layoffs of 30,000 employees next week. The reason for this is the increasing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). This information was given in the reports.
Employees working in Amazon Web Services (AWS), HR, Amazon Prime Video and retail segments may be most affected in the new round of layoffs.
Earlier in October, Amazon fired 14,000 white collar workers, which was part of its plan to lay off 30,000 employees.
Reuters quoted sources as saying that a similar number of employees may be laid off in the second round of layoffs.
The company has not yet commented on this report.
In an internal letter, the e-commerce giant had linked the layoffs in October to the increasing use of AI software.
“This generation of AI is the most revolutionary technology since the Internet, and it is enabling companies to innovate faster than ever before,” according to the letter.
However, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy later told analysts during the company’s third-quarter earnings announcement that the cuts were “really not for financial reasons” or “AI-driven.”
“It’s a matter of culture,” he said, meaning there was a lot of bureaucracy at the company.
“You end up with a lot more people than you had before, and you end up with many more layers,” he said.
Although the 30,000 layoffs would be the largest in Amazon’s three-decade history, ahead of 27,000 laid off in 2022, it would be only a small portion of Amazon’s 1.5 million employees.
According to reports, affected employees can remain on the company’s payroll for up to 90 days, during which they can apply for jobs internally or seek other employment.
At the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos this week, chief business executives from tech companies said AI will not replace jobs done by humans, but could change the way work is done by automating tasks.
–IANS
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