Amazon.com to cut several hundred jobs

Cites shifting business priorities, greater focus on generative AI

SAN FRANCISCO:

Amazon.com has announced it is trimming jobs at its Alexa voice assistant unit, citing shifting business priorities and a greater focus on generative artificial intelligence (AI).

The cuts affect several hundred employees working on Alexa, according to the email. A spokeswoman declined to elaborate on exactly how many were affected.

“We’re shifting some of our efforts to better align with our business priorities, and what we know matters most to customers – which includes maximising our resources and efforts focused on generative AI,” Daniel Rausch, Vice President of Alexa and Fire TV, said in the email. “These shifts are leading us to discontinue some initiatives.”

Read: Amazon plays catch-up with Alexa generative AI, shows off new, refreshed hardware

Amazon has been pulling back in a variety of divisions this month, including in its music and gaming divisions and some human resources roles. While most of the jobs affected were in the devices division, a few were working on Alexa-related products in a different unit, a spokeswoman said.

Many companies are shifting resources to generative AI, which can create software code and lengthy text responses from short prompts.

Alexa is a voice assistant that can be used to set timers, ask search queries, play music, or as a home automation hub.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 19^th, 2023.

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