Amazon on Wednesday eliminated jobs within its Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) unit, marking the latest in a series of workforce reductions as the company refocuses resources on its highest-priority artificial intelligence initiatives.
The company did not disclose how many employees were affected.
The layoffs come six months after Amazon cut around 16,000 corporate roles across the company in January as part of a broader restructuring programme aimed at streamlining operations and reducing bureaucracy.
"We've been building large AI models for several years, and it remains one of the most important things we're working on," an Amazon spokesperson said in response to a Reuters report.
"We're sharpening our focus on the initiatives that matter most for customers, so we can move faster on what counts. That focus means some difficult decisions, including eliminating some roles within parts of our AGI organization."
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The move comes at a time when Amazon is significantly expanding its AI investments. The company has been integrating generative AI across its retail, cloud and devices businesses while strengthening its AI infrastructure through Amazon Web Services (AWS).
CEO Andy Jassy has repeatedly described generative AI as a once-in-a-generation technology shift and has committed billions of dollars to AI chips, data centres and foundation models.
The restructuring comes just months after Amazon expanded its AGI ambitions with the launch of the Nova family of foundation models, which are designed to power enterprise applications through Amazon Bedrock.
The company has also been rolling out AI agents capable of performing complex, multi-step tasks and has positioned Nova as a lower-cost alternative to rival foundation models.
Amazon has simultaneously deepened its strategic partnership with AI startup Anthropic, investing billions of dollars in the company and making Anthropic's Claude models widely available through Amazon Bedrock.
The partnership has become central to Amazon's enterprise AI strategy, allowing AWS customers to choose between Amazon's in-house Nova models and Anthropic's frontier AI models.
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