Amazon, the world's most important retailer, has been a strong performer, becoming a central supplier of goods and services not only to most Americans, but to many domestic and large multinational corporations as well. Just in October alone, the company announced new grocery initiatives, health care initiatives and partnerships with the NBA and FanDuel.

As a result of its relentless expansion, Amazon has become a major driver of employment. That, however, may be set to change in the future as the company now hopes to accelerate growth without people by using advanced artificial intelligence.

As a result the company has announced that it will be laying off tens of thousands of its workers while it looks to implement new AI advancements to replace them.

In a letter outlining the move, Amazon's Beth Galetti said the company would both be reducing hiring in some areas and laying off workers in others. This, she said, "will mean an overall reduction in our corporate workforce of approximately 14,000 roles."

Galetti, who is the company's Senior VP of People Experience and Technology, continued, noting that the restructuring is not coming because Amazon is struggling. The company, she said, is "performing well" and is "producing strong business results." But, she continued, the company must get "lean" by embracing AI to a greater extent.

"What we need to remember is that the world is changing quickly," she said. "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 (in existing market segments and altogether new ones). We’re convicted that we need to be organized more leanly, with fewer layers and more ownership, to move as quickly as possible for our customers and business."

Amazon's action is consistent with findings reported in October 2025 by the Federal Reserve's "Beige Book." In it's summary of labor market activity, the Fed noted that "more employers reported lowering head counts through layoffs and attrition, with contacts citing weaker demand, elevated economic uncertainty, and, in some cases, increased investment in artificial intelligence technologies."

We remain only at the early stages of the growth curve of AI capabilities and AI corporate adoption. Trends becoming apparent now, will become more significant drivers of change in the coming months and years.