Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy has confirmed what many white-collar workers have feared for years: artificial intelligence is not only here to stay, it will displace jobs.
In a memo sent to employees on Tuesday, Jassy said the company expects its corporate workforce to shrink as it gains efficiency through the adoption of AI, particularly generative AI systems and intelligent agents.
“We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs,” Jassy said.
The announcement came as part of a broader internal communication updating employees on Amazon’s fast-expanding AI capabilities. Jassy said generative AI is already embedded in nearly every corner of the company—from logistics and inventory management to customer service and product development—and that it will “change how we all work and live.”
Amazon, the world’s second-largest employer with over 1.5 million people globally, is betting big on AI. In 2025, the company plans to spend $100 billion on capital expenditure, most of which will be funneled into expanding its AI services and building new data centers to support the infrastructure—up from $83 billion last year. Internally, more than 1,000 AI applications and services are either active or under development.
Jassy emphasized that the most transformative phase is yet to come.
“Many of these [AI] agents have yet to be built,” he said. “They’re coming, and fast. They’ll change the scope and speed at which we can innovate for customers.”
Industry Signals a Broader Shift
Across corporate America, executives are issuing similar messages, linking AI advances to both efficiency and workforce reductions. This week, UK telecom giant BT said its plans to cut 40,000 jobs by 2030 “did not reflect the full potential of AI,” suggesting that further reductions may be ahead.
Swedish payments company Klarna has said its AI assistant is now doing the job of 700 full-time customer service employees. While CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski later admitted the company may have gone too far in cutting human roles, he still believes AI poses a serious threat to white-collar employment.
Language app Duolingo has also adopted AI to replace contract workers. CEO Luis von Ahn told staff the company would “gradually stop using contractors to do work that AI can handle” and that new hires would only be approved if automation was not feasible.
At Shopify, CEO Tobi Lütke made it clear that AI comes before hiring. He told managers they must prove why AI can’t accomplish their goals before requesting new employees. Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike also cited AI as a reason for a 5% workforce cut this year, highlighting growing corporate dependence on automation across back and front office operations.
Even those building AI tools are expressing concern. Dario Amodei, CEO of leading AI firm Anthropic, recently warned that up to half of all entry-level white-collar jobs could disappear within five years due to AI automation.
“We, as the producers of this technology, have a duty and an obligation to be honest about what is coming,” Amodei told Axios in May. “I don’t think this is on people’s radar.”
From Efficiency to Disruption
While Jassy’s memo stressed long-term innovation and customer benefits, the tone reflects growing awareness that job losses from AI are no longer speculative. As these technologies move from support tools to core operating systems, they are fundamentally altering how companies function and how jobs are distributed.
Bloomberg Intelligence estimates that up to 200,000 banking jobs alone could be automated. AI is already being used to write code, manage inventories, and provide real-time customer service. With the technology advancing rapidly, roles once thought safe—from marketing and legal work to HR—are increasingly within AI’s reach.
In Amazon’s case, the strategy is not merely about replacing labor but reshaping the business around new capabilities. Amazon is hoping to stay ahead of competitors while trimming cost centers that no longer need as many human hands, by aggressively integrating AI into every layer of the company.
As generative AI evolves from predictive text tools into autonomous agents capable of decision-making, strategic planning, and operational execution, companies like Amazon are not just reducing staff—they are redefining what work means in a tech-driven economy. Jassy’s message is that the biggest changes are just beginning.
