Global e-commerce giant Amazon has announced the company will lay off hundreds of its employees in a move intended to tighten its belt as the worldwide economy continues to falter.
Amazon Vice President of Alexa and Fire TV David Rausch wrote in a memo to employees this past Friday that the company is eliminating some of its initiatives in the division, hence the cuts.
“As we continue to invent, we’re shifting some of our efforts to better align with our business priorities, and what we know matters most to customers — which includes maximizing our resources and efforts focused on generative AI,” Rausch wrote.
Employees in the US, Canada and India working in Amazon’s popular Alexa service division will take the brunt of the layoffs as the company moves more resources into the field of artificial intelligence.
In September, Amazon unveiled an update to Alexa that infuses it with more generative AI features.
The move follows a bloodbath of more than 27,000 Amazon layoffs in the past year.
