Amazon Aims To Leverage GenAI To Slash Corporate Jobs And Operate Like 'World's Largest Start-Up'

 Amazon (AMZN) CEO Andy Jassy on Tuesday touted generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) as a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity and outlined the e-commerce giant’s plans to “expansively” invest in the technology.

The technology is currently employed in the company’s products and services, including Alexa+, the next-gen personal assistant, and AI shopping assistants, as well as shopping features such as “Lens,” “Buy For Me,” or “Recommended Size.”

Jassy noted that over 50,000 advertisers used the company’s new AI ad tools. 

The technology is employed in Amazon’s AWS for builders, which includes custom silicon Trainium2, SageMaker, which simplifies deployment and use of large-language models (LLMs), Bedrock, which aids in developing GenAI apps, the Nova frontier model, and Q, as well as QCLI code-writing tools.

The company’s fulfillment network also uses the tech to improve inventory placement, demand forecasting, and the efficiency of its robots.

The Amazon CEO said the company wants to expedite its GenAI plunge due to its “strong conviction” that AI agents will change the future. 

“There will be billions of these agents, across every company and in every imaginable field,” he said, adding that they will also help do routine things outside of work.

Jassy said the AI agents will change the scope and speed at which Amazon innovates for customers, allowing it to shift focus away from “rote” work.

“We’re going to keep pushing to operate like the world’s largest start-up-- customer-obsessed, inventive, fast-moving, lean, scrappy, and full of missionaries trying to build something better for customers and a business that outlasts us all.”

He also hinted at a leaner workforce, with the company needing fewer people doing some jobs, but more people doing other types of work.

“It’s hard to know exactly where this nets out over time, but in the next few years, we expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce as we get efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company,” he added.

Amazon is among the big tech companies that have invested heavily in AI due to their belief in the transformative potential of the technology. 

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

Read Next: Trade Desk On Back Foot After Amazon’s Disney, Roku Ad Tech Deals? Here’s What Analysts Think