In yet another round of layoffs, Amazon is trimming roles inside one of its most strategically important artificial intelligence (AI) teams while preparing to spend more than ever on AI infrastructure.
The company confirmed that employees in its artificial general intelligence (AGI) organization were affected, although it did not disclose the number of jobs eliminated or the full scope of the restructuring. This comes amid a plan to spend over $200 billion in AI this year.
TL;DR
- Amazon eliminated roles across parts of its artificial general intelligence organization.
- Employees working on model customization, post-training, data services and information reportedly faced cuts.
- The layoffs come as Amazon forecasts $200 billion in annual capital expenditure, largely supporting its AI expansion.
Amazon Refocuses Its AGI Organization Around Customer Priorities
Amazon said the reductions are intended to concentrate resources on AI initiatives that deliver the most value to customers.
“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,” an Amazon spokesperson said. “That focus means some difficult decisions, including eliminating some roles within parts of our AGI organization, even as we continue to invest in the areas most important to our customers’ future.”
LinkedIn posts indicated that employees involved in model customization and post-training were among those affected. Workers reporting to AGI data services executive Adeeb Shanaa and AGI information executive Vishal Sharma also said they had been impacted.
As for severance, affected US employees will reportedly receive 90 days of pay and benefits, alongside outplacement assistance and transitional healthcare support.
Amazon’s AGI Unit Remains Central To Its Nova AI Strategy
The restructuring affects a core part of Amazon’s effort to compete with OpenAI, Anthropic and Google in advanced AI development.
Amazon’s AGI organization develops large AI models and includes teams working on silicon development and quantum computing. In 2024, the group released Nova, Amazon’s family of foundation models.
The organization has also experienced major leadership changes. Amazon consolidated its AGI work under Senior Vice President Peter DeSantis in December 2025, following Rohit Prasad’s departure. AGI Lab head David Luan left in February after joining through Amazon’s acquisition-related hiring of Adept employees.
DeSantis recently acknowledged that Amazon’s models “haven’t been at the very frontier for the very largest, most demanding workloads.” However, he said the company aims to build one of the “most capable intelligent models out there.”
Topics For More Insights
- Amazon's Project Rainier: Its Boldest AI Infra Move?
- Amazon Employees Say HR Investigated Them For Supporting Seattle Data Center Rules And Filing Legal Complaint!
- Amazon CEO Reportedly Raised Anthropic Model Concerns Before Government Crackdown
- Amazon Unveils 8 New Visual Search Tools To Make Shopping Feel Instant, Smarter & More Visual
Amazon Cuts Staff As Its AI Infrastructure Spending Accelerates
The AGI layoffs form part of Amazon’s broader workforce reduction strategy following years of rapid pandemic-era hiring.
Amazon has eliminated roughly 30,000 roles since October, including approximately 16,000 jobs in January across departments such as AWS, retail, Prime Video and human resources.
Yet its AI spending continues to rise sharply. Amazon has forecast capital expenditure of $200 billion for the year, more than 50% higher than in 2025, and is raising tens of billions of dollars in debt to support its infrastructure build-out.
The contrast is clear: Amazon is cutting selected AI roles, but it is not retreating from artificial intelligence. Instead, the company appears to be narrowing its teams while directing unprecedented funding toward the models, chips and computing infrastructure it believes can close the gap with AI market leaders.
