AWS directly employs more than 4,200 people in Ireland. It is unclear whether they will be affected in the latest job cuts.
Amazon cut hundreds of jobs at its cloud computing unit Amazon Web Services (AWS) yesterday (17 July), outlets reported, just a month after CEO Andy Jassy said the company expects artificial intelligence to reduce its total corporate workforce.
While the layoffs were confirmed by Amazon, no details were provided. Reports suggest that “at least hundreds of jobs” were cut.
AWS directly employs more than 4,200 employees in Ireland and more than 3,000 who work for AWS suppliers and sub-contractors. It is unclear whether the latest jobs cuts will affect Ireland-based employees. SiliconRepublic.com has reached out to AWS for clarification.
“After a thorough review of our organisation, our priorities and what we need to focus on going forward, we’ve made the difficult business decision to eliminate some roles across particular teams in AWS,” Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser told news outlets on Thursday.
“We didn’t make these decisions lightly and we’re committed to supporting the employees throughout their transition. These decisions are necessary as we continue to invest, hire and optimise resources to deliver innovation for our customers.”
AWS made a similar statement last year after it laid off employees in a bid to “streamline” and focus on “key strategic areas”.
Job cuts in tech are becoming more and more commonplace as companies lean further into AI to boost efficiency and cut costs.
Last week, job-hunting platforms Indeed and Glassdoor said they would cut roughly 1,300 jobs while diverting focus into AI.
Earlier this month, Microsoft announced it was laying off roughly 9,000 employees – this time affecting Ireland-based employees.
While, also in July, Intel announced redundancies at its Leixlip, Co- Kildare foundry, which could affect up to 200 people working there.
Business leaders are beginning to admit that AI will have a drastic impact on white-collar jobs. In a recent interview, Ford CEO Jim Farley said that he believes “half of all white-collar workers in the US” could lose their jobs to AI in the coming years.
While Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei told Axios earlier this year that AI could wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs and spike unemployment to 10 to 20pc in the US in the next five years.
Although, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang disagrees. He believes that while some jobs are set to be obsolete in the AI era, advancements in the tech will create opportunities elsewhere.
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