Are We Sure AI “Took” 14,000 Jobs at Amazon?

As Amazon reports earnings today, most headlines are repeating the same storyline: 𝗔𝗜 𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲-𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀.

That narrative fits our collective anxiety about automation, and in fairness, it’s not wrong. AI is replacing some jobs, and it will continue to. We’ve already seen it backfire in cases from Klarna to Sports Illustrated, where efficiency came at the expense of credibility.

𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗔𝗺𝗮𝘇𝗼𝗻’𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱.

According to AP News the company described these layoffs as part of a broader reorganization to streamline operations and reallocate resources.
The company is hiring aggressively in AI and cloud, not trimming.

And that makes sense when you look at where Amazon’s profits actually come from.

The retail business most of us interact with every day operates on razor-thin margins. The real profit engine is AWS, which represents about 16% of revenue but more than 70% of Amazon’s operating income.

Behind the scenes, Amazon is pouring billions into AI infrastructure including data centers, chips, and Nvidia processors that can cost as much as a car. The goal is to help AWS catch up to Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

In today's corporate environment, that kind of investment does not happen without trade-offs. It creates investor pressure to cut costs elsewhere.

So yes, AI is replacing jobs. But Amazon's significant AI investments are also driving a deeper reallocation of people and capital around Amazon’s most profitable business.

The headlines shouldn't make it sound like 14K people are being replaced by robots or agents. The headlines should dig deeper into the more troubling trends in today's business climate: 

🚫 Unrealistic expectations re: AI returns.
🚫 Short-sighted investor behavior re: long-term investments.
🚫 The use of layoffs to provide short-term stock price bumps at the expense of human workers.

But I guess "𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗼𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗷𝗼𝗯𝘀" is a far less nuanced story to tell. 

What do you think? Am I wrong? Let me know in the comments! 👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽