Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told employees Tuesday that AI will shrink the company’s corporate white-collar workforce over the next few years, citing “efficiency gains” as the driving force.
Amazon employees weren’t having it.
Across internal Slack channels, Amazon’s white-collar workers tore into Jassy’s message, taking aim at his leadership and unapologetic push for AI, according to messages seen by Business Insider.
Business Insider viewed dozens of messages found across three different internal channels, which include thousands of employees in total.
The criticism was widespread across the channels. Some called for a shift in the company’s mindset and warned of the risks of overrelying on AI. Others voiced blunt concerns about looming layoffs, while a few demanded that leadership share in the fallout.
“There is nothing more motivating on a Tuesday than reading that your job will be replaced by AI in a few years,” one person wrote in Slack.
Some Amazon employees seemed to agree with Jassy’s move.
One person wrote that middle management in general could be replaced by Amazon’s AI app and “no one would notice,” alluding to the company’s decision to reduce management layers this year.
“At least he said the quiet part out loud,” another employee wrote. “We all knew it but now it’s clearly part of the plan.”
An Amazon spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment.
AI as a partner or replacement
One key debate centered on how AI should be positioned within a corporate environment.
Many of the internal Slack messages noted that a 50% productivity boost from AI gives companies two options: reduce the workforce and maintain current output, or keep the team intact and grow the business.
Amazon, in this case, is choosing to do the same with less, they argued.
“We need to lead the change in reframing AI as partners (even teammates or colleagues) rather than AI as replacements or tools,” one person wrote. “It’s a slightly different vision than the one Andy alludes to.”
Another person wrote that Jassy is defining success as “a smaller corporate workforce,” not in terms of customer satisfaction. BI previously reported that Amazon is freezing its hiring budget for its retail business this year.
“He, as the CEO, has shown he can deliver on one of those things and not the other,” this person wrote.
‘Real consequences’
Others voiced concerns about leaning too heavily on AI without proper safeguards. While some found summary tools useful, employees warned that AI isn’t always a reliable source of truth. It can lead to poor decisions and a future where people turn to AI to solve problems it caused in the first place, they said.
“It’s dangerous, and it will have real consequences,” one of the employees wrote.
Some employees questioned whether Tuesday’s memo signaled more layoffs ahead.
One remarked that any message from Jassy fills them with instant “deep dread,” while another saw it as yet another example of his relentless focus on cost-cutting over the years.
“This seems to be the [antithesis] of Think Big, and is part of a continual trend that our CEO doesn’t seem to have a vision for the company other than ‘do what we do today cheaper, and also AI will happen,'” one of the people wrote.
Some employees took a cynical view of the role of senior executives, questioning why AI-driven cuts seem to target rank-and-file workers while top leadership remains untouched. Amazon’s senior S-team, for example, has only expanded under Jassy’s watch.
“Will it result in less SVPs?” one of the people wrote.
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