Amazon Web Services has started cutting jobs across multiple teams, just weeks after CEO Andy Jassy warned that generative AI would eventually shrink the company’s workforce. While Amazon hasn’t disclosed exact figures, sources say hundreds of employees lost their roles this week.
AWS confirmed the move in a statement to Reuters, describing it as a “difficult business decision.” The company chose to eliminate positions across its cloud unit, including the “specialists” team, which worked directly with customers to build solutions and promote cloud products.
Despite AWS reporting $29.3 billion in revenue for Q1 2025—a 17 percent increase from last year—executives appear to be prioritizing efficiency over expansion. Jassy and his leadership team continue to pour resources into artificial intelligence, even as they scale back the human workforce that once powered AWS’s customer operations.
Engineers and specialists who played a key role in AWS’s expansion are now grappling with a landscape increasingly dictated by algorithms and machine learning. Amazon’s response to the recent layoffs? Not exactly transparent—just the usual talk about “innovation costs,” with minimal details.
This trend affects more than just one company. Microsoft’s slash of roughly 9,000 jobs and Intel’s 2,400-person cull in Oregon fit the pattern. While these companies are reporting solid numbers, they’re still cutting staff. It’s a clear signal: large tech firms are aggressively optimizing their workforces, regardless of their bottom lines.
For many in the field, the shift is abrupt. Technical staff who once felt their roles were secure—engineers, customer support, you name it—are now facing instability. The rise of AI has changed the equation. Job security now depends less on how well you perform and more on whether machines can automate your work more efficiently.
Cloud computing keeps expanding, but companies are quietly pushing out the architects who built it. The big question for technical professionals now isn’t how to get ahead, but how to stay essential in an industry where automation is the new baseline.
