Amazon has eliminated some roles within its Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) organization as the company refocuses its AI efforts, even as it continues to spend heavily on the technology.
The company did not disclose how many employees were affected or identify every team involved.
However, employees working in model customization, post-training, and parts of Amazon’s AGI data services and information teams said they were impacted, according to LinkedIn posts and online forums cited by CNBC and Reuters.
In a statement, Amazon said the layoffs are part of an effort to prioritize projects with the biggest customer impact.
“We’ve been building large AI models for several years, and it remains one of the most important things we’re working on,” an Amazon spokesperson told Reuters. “We’re sharpening our focus on the initiatives that matter most for customers, so we can move faster on what counts. That focus means some difficult decisions, including eliminating some roles within parts of our AGI organization.”
Amazon said affected US employees will receive 90 days of pay and benefits, job placement assistance, transitional health benefits, and severance eligibility.
Leadership changes continue
The latest cuts follow leadership changes inside Amazon’s AI organization.
Former AGI chief Rohit Prasad left the company late last year, while AGI Lab head David Luan departed in February. Amazon consolidated its AGI work under Senior Vice President Peter DeSantis in December, combining the organization with teams responsible for silicon development and quantum computing.
The AGI group plays a central role in Amazon’s AI strategy. It develops foundation models, including the Nova family introduced in 2024, and supports AI services offered through Amazon Web Services.
Last month, DeSantis acknowledged to CNBC that Amazon’s AI models “haven’t been at the very frontier for the very largest, most demanding workloads,” but said the company aims to build one of the “most capable intelligent models out there.”
AI spending keeps climbing
The layoffs come as Amazon continues investing aggressively in AI infrastructure.
The company expects to spend about $200 billion in capital expenditures this year — more than 50% higher than in 2025 — and is raising tens of billions of dollars in debt to support its AI expansion, CNBC reported.
The latest reductions also extend Amazon’s broader workforce restructuring. After eliminating roughly 16,000 jobs in January, the company has continued making smaller cuts across multiple business units as it streamlines operations following rapid hiring during the pandemic.
What this signals for Amazon’s AI strategy
Rather than signaling a retreat from AI, the layoffs suggest Amazon is becoming more selective about where it places its resources.
Building advanced AI systems requires enormous investment in computing infrastructure, chips, and talent. By trimming some teams while increasing spending elsewhere, Amazon appears to be concentrating its efforts on projects it believes can better compete with rivals such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google.
That approach could help the company accelerate AI development.
Still, it also highlights the tradeoff facing major technology companies: investing billions in next-generation AI while continuing to reduce headcount in parts of the business.
