Amazon has cut an undisclosed number of jobs within its artificial general intelligence (AGI) organisation, marking the latest round of targeted layoffs as the technology giant continues to invest aggressively in artificial intelligence.
The company confirmed the workforce reduction on Wednesday but declined to disclose how many employees were affected or which teams within the AGI organisation were impacted.
In a statement to CNBC, an Amazon spokesperson said the company was refining its priorities within a rapidly evolving AI landscape.
"This is a fast-moving space, and we're sharpening our focus on the initiatives that matter most for customers, so we can move faster on what counts."
The spokesperson added that the shift had resulted in "some difficult decisions", including eliminating roles within parts of the AGI organisation, while maintaining investment in strategic AI initiatives.
Layoffs target parts of Amazon's AI organisation
Amazon did not specify the scale of the job cuts. However, employees working on model customisation and post-training activities said on LinkedIn that they had been laid off, according to CNBC.
The AGI organisation is responsible for developing Amazon's advanced AI capabilities. Alongside foundation AI models, the unit also includes teams focused on silicon development and quantum computing.
AGI, or artificial general intelligence, refers to AI systems capable of performing a broad range of tasks at a level comparable to or exceeding human capability. Amazon's AGI organisation is a dedicated business unit responsible for advancing the company's long-term AI research and model development.
Workforce reductions continue despite AI investment
The latest cuts extend Amazon's multi-year workforce restructuring programme.
According to CNBC, the company has eliminated more than 30,000 jobs since October 2022, following rapid hiring during the pandemic. More recently, Amazon has shifted towards smaller, targeted rounds of layoffs across different business units instead of broad company-wide reductions.
The latest move comes as Amazon significantly expands investment in AI infrastructure.
Key developments include:
- More than 30,000 jobs eliminated since October 2022.
- Capital expenditure of $200 billion forecast for the year.
- Planned capital spending represents an increase of more than 50% compared with 2025.
- Amazon is also raising tens of billions of dollars in debt to support its AI infrastructure build-out.
AGI remains central to Amazon's AI strategy
Despite the layoffs, Amazon maintains that AI remains one of its highest strategic priorities.
The AGI organisation released its Nova family of foundation models in 2024 as Amazon sought to strengthen its position against AI leaders including OpenAI, Anthropic and Google.
Leadership within the organisation has also evolved over the past year.
In December 2025, Amazon appointed longtime cloud executive Peter DeSantis to lead the AGI organisation, replacing Rohit Prasad. Earlier this year, David Luan, who joined Amazon in 2024 following the acquisition of AI startup Adept, departed as head of the company's AGI laboratory.
Speaking to CNBC last month, DeSantis acknowledged Amazon's AI models had not yet reached "the very frontier for the very largest, most demanding workloads". He added that the company was continuing to improve its models with the goal of building some of the industry's most capable AI systems.
Balancing cost discipline with AI expansion
The latest workforce reduction reflects a broader trend across the technology sector, where companies continue to streamline teams while increasing investment in AI infrastructure and foundation models.
Amazon is scheduled to report its second-quarter earnings next week, with investors expected to closely watch updates on AI spending, infrastructure investments and the company's long-term strategy for generative AI.