The New York Times had been hearing it for a few days, the Senior Vice President of People Experience and Technology Beth Galetti gave it this morning confirmation: Amazon dismissed 14,000 employees, opening today the reversal of route compared to frenetic intake in the pandemic era when jobs increased by almost half a million between January and October 2020. Today the music has changed and so the workforce, which is less and less anthropomorphic and more AI generated, as Galetti explains in the letter to Amazon staff.
“Some might wonder why we are reducing roles when the company is getting good results – he writes – what we must remember is that the world is changing rapidly. This generation of artificial intelligence – continues Galletti – is the most revolutionary technology we have seen since the Internet and allows companies to innovate much faster than ever.”.
Galetti’s enthusiasm aside, it is not yet clear the role of personal intelligence in this drastic operation of personal cuts. Some suspicion, however, the New York Times had already advanced it a week ago with Karen Weise’s long editorial titled Amazon Plans to Replace More Than Half a Million Jobs With Robots. The article unfairly confessed to the hope of Amazon leaders (or desire) that the upcoming robotic automation allowed to continue to avoid increasing the workforce in the United States for years to come, although with the mission of selling twice as many products by 2033.
According to this, the multinational could soon do less than 300,000 jobs. The New York Times is certainly a bold investigation, but Galetti’s letter is so exhaustive that he leaves little doubts about the future politics, hectic if not robotics, of Amazon.
“We want to operate as the world’s largest startup – promises – to have the right structure to maintain a level of speed and responsibility necessary to be ready to invent, collaborate, be connected and offer the absolute best to customers.”.
Galetti’s look, and perhaps also that of the multinational, seems to look more to the customer than to the staff, even when he promises 14,000 licensed employees a 90-day assistance to seek a new role within Amazon. And for our colleagues who are unable to find a new role internally or who choose not to look for one – says the Senior Vice President – we will offer them support in the transition, including relief allowances, relocation services, health insurance benefits and more.”.
At present, on personal cuts in the company of Jeff Bezos, the only source is Galetti’s letter, from an enthusiastic but undivague tone, at least on the role of AI in this effervescent corporate policy. Of course the statement signed by CEO Andy Jassy last June leaves less and less doubts about the motive of 14,000 cuts. “The artificial intelligence generated will change the way you work in the company – said Jassy – It will require fewer people to perform some of the works that are carried out today and more people to perform other types of work.”.
A policy in line with Netflix, which said it was “well positioned to take advantage of AI’s progress” with CEO Ted Sarandos enthusiastic and cautious at the same time, who said: “It serves a great artist to create something great. AI can offer better tools to creatives, but it doesn’t turn anyone into a great narrator.” For now there are many shadows on the cut to the staff at home Bezos: little is known about a possible involvement of Prime video, but the growing confidence in AI resources certainly does not leave well hope. In Amazon game studios are already begun the first cuts with significant reductions in Irvine and San Diego studies; and it is no longer a mystery, by now, the correspondence between the world of gaming and cinema.
According to Reuters forecasts, then, the 14,000 dismissals could soon become 30,000. Translated: almost 10% of the 350,000 Amazon employees. It would be the dawn of a new corporate policy, post-human and generative at the same time as the largest cycle of dismissals after the “round” of 27,000 in 2022.
Article 14,000 staff cuts in Amazon. What film relapse? It comes from SentieriSelvaggi.
