Amazon to cut 14,000 jobs globally amid AI shift
The company, which reported profits of £19.2bn in July, stated that it was continuing to streamline after rapid expansion during the COVID-19 pandemic
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Amazon is reportedly set to cut around 14,000 corporate jobs worldwide as part of a restructuring drive linked to the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI), raising uncertainty for the company’s 75,000 UK workers, according to Sky News.
The US technology group said affected teams would be informed by management on Tuesday. However, it has not disclosed how many of the losses will fall in the UK.
The move is smaller than earlier reports from Reuters suggesting as many as 30,000 redundancies, but the GMB union warned that “it is almost inevitable that many UK workers will lose their jobs”.
Amazon’s largest previous round of job cuts came in January 2023, when it announced 18,000 redundancies, including reductions across its consumer retail operations such as Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go.
The GMB told Sky News it would support its members “as they face this uncertain future”.
In a message to staff, Amazon’s senior vice president of people experience and technology, Beth Galetti, reportedly said the company was cutting roles despite strong profits because of “rapid change” in the business environment.
She said: “Some may ask why we’re reducing roles when the company is performing well. What we need to remember is that the world is changing quickly. This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the internet, and it’s enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before.”
The company, which reported profits of £19.2bn in July, stated that it was continuing to streamline after rapid expansion during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Galetti said: “We’re working hard to support everyone whose role is impacted, including offering most employees 90 days to look for a new role internally (the timing will vary some based on local laws), and our recruiting teams will prioritize internal candidates to help as many people as possible find new roles within Amazon.
“For our teammates who are unable to find a new role at Amazon or who choose not to look for one, we’ll offer them transition support including severance pay, outplacement services, health insurance benefits, and more. Looking ahead to 2026, we expect to continue hiring in key strategic areas while also finding additional places we can remove layers, increase ownership, and realise efficiency gains.”
The company has also indicated plans to automate a greater share of its logistics network. According to the New York Times, Amazon aims to deploy robots to replace more than half a million jobs, automating up to 75% of its operations.
Amazon has been contacted for comment.
