Amazon is slicing tons of of jobs within the unit that handles its fashionable voice assistant Alexa because it plows extra sources into synthetic intelligence.
In a word to staff on Friday, Daniel Rausch, Amazon’s vp of Alexa and Hearth TV, wrote that the corporate is eliminating sure roles as a result of it’s 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.
He mentioned “several hundred” positions can be reduce however didn’t give a extra exact determine.
Seattle-based Amazon is in fierce competitors with different tech firms dashing to capitalize on the generative AI craze. The corporate has been implementing a number of AI initiatives previously few months, from infusing the expertise into buyer critiques to offering companies that permit builders to construct their very own AI instruments on its AWS cloud infrastructure.
In September, Amazon unveiled an replace to Alexa that infuses it with extra generative AI options.
The job cuts introduced on Friday will influence staff within the U.S., Canada and India.
It follows newer layoffs in Amazon’s gaming and music groups, and likewise provides to the 27,000 staff the corporate laid off in the course of the later elements of final 12 months and earlier this 12 months. Amazon’s Alexa unit was additionally impacted by these cuts.