Khaberni - Giant American company Amazon announced on Wednesday that it will cancel 16,000 jobs, in a second wave of layoffs during 3 months, as it restructures its ranks to reverse extra hiring implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, and amid continued expansion in the use of artificial intelligence tools.
In October, Amazon canceled 14,000 jobs, bringing the total number of jobs canceled since then to 30,000.
Beth Galetti, the company's vice president of employee experience and technology, said in a company blog, "As I mentioned in October, we are working on strengthening our organization by reducing job levels and removing bureaucracy," according to The Wall Street Journal.
She explained that "most" employees in the United States will be given a 90-day period to apply for other jobs in the company or receive severance packages.
She added, "Some might wonder if this is the start of a new pace at which we announce broad layoffs every few months. This is not our plan."
Investments in Artificial Intelligence
The move highlights how artificial intelligence is changing the dynamics of workforce power in companies, as significant improvements in its technologies have enabled it to perform various tasks such as administrative roles with high speed and accuracy, leading to a broader adoption of these new tools, according to Reuters.
Although 30,000 employees represent only a small percentage of Amazon's total workforce, which numbers 1.58 million, most of whom work in distribution centers and warehouses, they constitute about 10% of the company's core workforce, according to Reuters.
The Financial Times reported that Amazon does not disclose the number of its employees, but estimates indicate that the size of the company's core workforce reaches 350,000 individuals, most of them in the United States.
The Wall Street Journal noted that job cancellations at Amazon come at a time when job growth in the United States is at its slowest rate in years amid economic concerns that have led many companies to delay hiring decisions, in addition to the impact of massive investments in artificial intelligence.
Amazon competes with other giant companies, including Alphabet, the owner of Google and Microsoft, in leading applications of artificial intelligence, where Amazon has succeeded in providing cloud services that have generated significant profits for the company.
Last year, Amazon announced it would spend about 118 billion dollars on its various investments, most of it on building the infrastructure for artificial intelligence, according to The Financial Times.
Financial Times added that Amazon is in talks to invest more than 10 billion dollars in "Open AI" company, and is working to enhance its ability to produce electronic chips and computing services.
