Amazon Plans Major AI-Driven Layoffs: Up to 15% of HR Staff Could Be Axed
Amazon Plans Major AI-Driven Layoffs: Up to 15% of HR Staff Could Be Axed
Restructuring focuses on automation as tech giant invests over $100 billion in AI and cloud infrastructure
Amazon is gearing up for another major round of layoffs — this time targeting its human resources division. According to Fortune, the tech giant may slash up to 15 per cent of staff in its People eXperience and Technology (PXT) team, which employs more than 10,000 people globally. While the final number remains uncertain, insiders say other consumer-facing divisions could also face cuts as part of a sweeping AI-led restructuring.
The layoffs come as Amazon pivots aggressively toward artificial intelligence, both as a business driver and as a tool for internal efficiency. The company plans to spend over $100 billion this year on data centres and infrastructure to power its next-generation AI capabilities — a move CEO Andy Jassy calls essential for “reinventing the company.”
In a memo earlier this year, Jassy warned employees that Amazon’s deepening reliance on AI would naturally lead to a leaner workforce. “Those who embrace this change will be well-positioned to have high impact. But we expect this will reduce our total corporate workforce as we gain efficiency from using AI extensively,” he said.
This round follows Amazon’s largest-ever layoffs between 2022 and 2023, when 27,000 corporate roles were eliminated amid post-pandemic slowdowns. Unlike those cuts, the current downsizing marks a deliberate shift toward automation and long-term operational transformation.
The PXT division — central to Amazon’s hiring, employee experience, and workplace systems — is expected to be hit hardest. Smaller job cuts have already taken place across Amazon’s Wondery podcast arm, its AWS cloud division, and its devices and services units.
Ironically, while corporate layoffs loom, Amazon is simultaneously hiring 2,50,000 temporary workers across its U.S. warehouses and delivery operations ahead of the holiday season, underscoring its dual strategy of cost-cutting in offices while scaling logistics.
The company’s shift mirrors a wider tech industry trend, as giants like Meta, Microsoft, Oracle, Dropbox, and Jack Dorsey’s Block have all announced job reductions tied to AI restructuring. In total, over 150,000 layoffs have been reported across the global tech sector in the first quarter of 2025 alone.
For Amazon’s HR teams — once key to managing its explosive growth — the irony is stark. In a company now driven by data and algorithms, even the people managers are not immune from automation.
