Amazon Cuts Jobs In Alexa Division To ‘Focus’ On This

In yet another big layoff update, Amazon on Friday announced it is cutting hundreds of jobs in the unit that takes care of its popular voice assistant Alexa amid its attempt to build up more resources into artificial intelligence. According to the Associated Press, in a note to employees, Amazon’s vice president of Alexa and Fire TV, Daniel Rausch said the company is eliminating certain roles because it is ditching some initiatives.

“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.

“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 said in the email. “These shifts are leading us to discontinue some initiatives,” he added, as quoted by Reuters.

He said “several hundred” positions would be cut but did not give a clear figure. The latest job cuts announcement will impact employees in the US, Canada and India, reported the AP.

Notably, Amazon and other big tech companies are in fierce competition to capitalise on the generative AI craze. According to the AP, Amazon has been implementing a series of AI initiatives — from infusing the technology into customer reviews to providing services that allow developers to build their own AI tools — on its AWS cloud infrastructure.

In September this year, the company unveiled an update to Alexa that infuses it with more generative AI features. The present jobs cut follows various recent layoffs in Amazon’s gaming and music teams that add to the 27,000 employees the company laid off in between later parts of last year and earlier this year.

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