According to the reports, the cuts would target areas such as human resources, advertising and management in a group that has 350,000 office positions, out of a total of more than 1.5 million employees.

Warehouse workers, who make up the majority of Amazon’s workforce, will likely not be affected, according to Galetti, who indicated that the job cuts were just a first step.

“Looking ahead to 2026, we expect to continue hiring in key strategic areas while also finding additional places we can remove layers, increase ownership and realise efficiency gains,” she said.

Amazon chief executive Andy Jassy has lauded the potential of AI to streamline workplace operations, from engaging with customers online to making offices more efficient.

“Our conviction that AI will change every customer experience is starting to play out,” Jassy said during Amazon’s last quarterly earnings call.

Amazon will next report earnings this week, and is among the tech titans under pressure to show the merit of huge investments in AI.

Amazon will also likely be pressed for details about a recent AWS outage.

Popular internet services ranging from streaming platforms to messaging services to banking were offline for hours last week because of an outage in Amazon’s crucial cloud network, illustrating the extent to which internet life depends on the tech titan.

-Agence France-Presse