Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has predicted that AI will lead to significant changes in the workforce as the technology begins to automate many tasks, reducing the need for certain jobs while creating others.
In an interaction with CNBC’s Jim Cramer, Jassy said: “I think AI is going to be the most transformative technology in our lifetime… It’s also going to change the way we work.”
“Like with every technical transformation, there will be fewer people doing some of the jobs that technology starts to automate… and there are going to be other jobs that technology wants you to go higher that we will hire over time too.” he added
Jassy also predicted that AI will mean people won’t have to do as much routine work, allowing “every single person [to] start every task at a more advanced starting spot.”
“That’s going to make all our jobs more interesting,” he noted.
Jassy stated in the same interview that Amazon will continue to hire employees in its AI, robotics, and other divisions. Last month, the Amazon chief admitted that he expects the company’s workforce to decline in the coming years as the e-commerce giant embraces new technology.
“We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs…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.” Jassy had wrote in a memo to employees.
Recently, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff claimed that AI is doing 30% to 50% of the work at his software company. Meanwhile, Klarna’s CEO stated in May that the company has managed to cut its workforce by 40% due to investments in AI and natural attrition.
As for Amazon, the company has cut over 27,000 jobs since the start of 2023 and has also announced targeted layoffs in its retail and devices divisions in recent months, CNBC reported.
