Amazon and Meta laid off 40,000 employees in last 10 months
Amazon's latest layoffs in its AGI division add to the wave of job cuts across Big Tech. Combined with Meta's workforce reductions, the two companies have eliminated nearly 40,000 roles in the past 10 months while ramping up AI investments.
The race to dominate AI is creating new opportunities, but it is also costing thousands of tech workers their jobs. Over the past 10 months, Amazon and Meta have together laid off almost 40,000 employees as both companies continue to reorganise their businesses and redirect billions of dollars toward AI. Amazon has become the latest tech giant to announce another round of job cuts. While the company has not revealed how many employees were affected this time, the layoffs reportedly hit parts of its Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) division. The latest move comes after Amazon eliminated around 16,000 jobs in January. Altogether, the company has cut more than 30,000 positions through multiple rounds of layoffs since October 2022.
An Amazon spokesperson confirmed the latest cuts, saying the company remains deeply committed to AI despite reducing some roles.
"We've been building large AI models for several years, and it remains one of the most important things we're working on. 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 organisation," Amazon told Reuters.
The restructuring also follows leadership changes within Amazon's AI division. Rohit Prasad, who previously led AGI efforts, left the company last year, while AGI Lab head David Luan exited earlier this year. Amazon has since consolidated its AGI work under senior vice president Peter DeSantis, who now oversees AI, custom silicon and quantum computing initiatives.
The exact number of employees affected in the latest layoffs remains unknown. However, posts shared by employees on X suggest that several teams working on AI model pre-training and data-related projects were impacted.
One former employee wrote that they had been laid off along with many colleagues, adding that their work focused on deciding which data points should be used for AI model pre-training. Another employee claimed that "most members" of their Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) pre-training team had been affected and said they were looking for new opportunities in the AI industry.
The layoffs also sparked debate on social media. While some users questioned why Amazon would reduce teams working on foundation model training, others argued the company may be prioritising different AI investments. AI chatbot Grok, responding to one such discussion, noted that Amazon has confirmed only targeted AGI cuts while maintaining that AI remains one of its biggest priorities.
Meta also cut thousands of jobs this year
Amazon is not alone. Meta has also carried out large-scale workforce reductions in 2026, reportedly laying off more than 9,000 employees so far this year. The biggest round came in May, when CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that around 8,000 employees (roughly 10 percent of Meta's workforce) would lose their jobs as the company doubled down on its AI ambitions.
In a memo to employees, Zuckerberg said the decision was necessary because competition in AI is becoming increasingly intense. "AI is the most consequential technology of our lifetimes. The companies that lead the way will define the next generation."
Meta had already reduced headcount earlier in the year by cutting around 1,000 jobs in its Reality Labs division, followed by another round affecting hundreds of employees in March. At the same time, the company has been moving thousands of employees into AI-focused roles while protecting teams working on AI infrastructure, foundation models and AI monetisation.
The Facebook parent has also been replacing some content moderation work previously handled by contractors with AI-powered systems. The trend extends beyond Amazon and Meta. Companies including Cisco and Microsoft have also announced layoffs or workforce restructuring in recent months, with executives saying resources are being redirected toward AI development.
The race to dominate AI is creating new opportunities, but it is also costing thousands of tech workers their jobs. Over the past 10 months, Amazon and Meta have together laid off almost 40,000 employees as both companies continue to reorganise their businesses and redirect billions of dollars toward AI. Amazon has become the latest tech giant to announce another round of job cuts. While the company has not revealed how many employees were affected this time, the layoffs reportedly hit parts of its Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) division. The latest move comes after Amazon eliminated around 16,000 jobs in January. Altogether, the company has cut more than 30,000 positions through multiple rounds of layoffs since October 2022.
An Amazon spokesperson confirmed the latest cuts, saying the company remains deeply committed to AI despite reducing some roles.
"We've been building large AI models for several years, and it remains one of the most important things we're working on. 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 organisation," Amazon told Reuters.
The restructuring also follows leadership changes within Amazon's AI division. Rohit Prasad, who previously led AGI efforts, left the company last year, while AGI Lab head David Luan exited earlier this year. Amazon has since consolidated its AGI work under senior vice president Peter DeSantis, who now oversees AI, custom silicon and quantum computing initiatives.
The exact number of employees affected in the latest layoffs remains unknown. However, posts shared by employees on X suggest that several teams working on AI model pre-training and data-related projects were impacted.
One former employee wrote that they had been laid off along with many colleagues, adding that their work focused on deciding which data points should be used for AI model pre-training. Another employee claimed that "most members" of their Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) pre-training team had been affected and said they were looking for new opportunities in the AI industry.
The layoffs also sparked debate on social media. While some users questioned why Amazon would reduce teams working on foundation model training, others argued the company may be prioritising different AI investments. AI chatbot Grok, responding to one such discussion, noted that Amazon has confirmed only targeted AGI cuts while maintaining that AI remains one of its biggest priorities.
Meta also cut thousands of jobs this year
Amazon is not alone. Meta has also carried out large-scale workforce reductions in 2026, reportedly laying off more than 9,000 employees so far this year. The biggest round came in May, when CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that around 8,000 employees (roughly 10 percent of Meta's workforce) would lose their jobs as the company doubled down on its AI ambitions.
In a memo to employees, Zuckerberg said the decision was necessary because competition in AI is becoming increasingly intense. "AI is the most consequential technology of our lifetimes. The companies that lead the way will define the next generation."
Meta had already reduced headcount earlier in the year by cutting around 1,000 jobs in its Reality Labs division, followed by another round affecting hundreds of employees in March. At the same time, the company has been moving thousands of employees into AI-focused roles while protecting teams working on AI infrastructure, foundation models and AI monetisation.
The Facebook parent has also been replacing some content moderation work previously handled by contractors with AI-powered systems. The trend extends beyond Amazon and Meta. Companies including Cisco and Microsoft have also announced layoffs or workforce restructuring in recent months, with executives saying resources are being redirected toward AI development.
The race to dominate AI is creating new opportunities, but it is also costing thousands of tech workers their jobs. Over the past 10 months, Amazon and Meta have together laid off almost 40,000 employees as both companies continue to reorganise their businesses and redirect billions of dollars toward AI. Amazon has become the latest tech giant to announce another round of job cuts. While the company has not revealed how many employees were affected this time, the layoffs reportedly hit parts of its Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) division. The latest move comes after Amazon eliminated around 16,000 jobs in January. Altogether, the company has cut more than 30,000 positions through multiple rounds of layoffs since October 2022.
An Amazon spokesperson confirmed the latest cuts, saying the company remains deeply committed to AI despite reducing some roles.
"We've been building large AI models for several years, and it remains one of the most important things we're working on. 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 organisation," Amazon told Reuters.
The restructuring also follows leadership changes within Amazon's AI division. Rohit Prasad, who previously led AGI efforts, left the company last year, while AGI Lab head David Luan exited earlier this year. Amazon has since consolidated its AGI work under senior vice president Peter DeSantis, who now oversees AI, custom silicon and quantum computing initiatives.
The exact number of employees affected in the latest layoffs remains unknown. However, posts shared by employees on X suggest that several teams working on AI model pre-training and data-related projects were impacted.
One former employee wrote that they had been laid off along with many colleagues, adding that their work focused on deciding which data points should be used for AI model pre-training. Another employee claimed that "most members" of their Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) pre-training team had been affected and said they were looking for new opportunities in the AI industry.
The layoffs also sparked debate on social media. While some users questioned why Amazon would reduce teams working on foundation model training, others argued the company may be prioritising different AI investments. AI chatbot Grok, responding to one such discussion, noted that Amazon has confirmed only targeted AGI cuts while maintaining that AI remains one of its biggest priorities.
Meta also cut thousands of jobs this year
Amazon is not alone. Meta has also carried out large-scale workforce reductions in 2026, reportedly laying off more than 9,000 employees so far this year. The biggest round came in May, when CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that around 8,000 employees (roughly 10 percent of Meta's workforce) would lose their jobs as the company doubled down on its AI ambitions.
In a memo to employees, Zuckerberg said the decision was necessary because competition in AI is becoming increasingly intense. "AI is the most consequential technology of our lifetimes. The companies that lead the way will define the next generation."
Meta had already reduced headcount earlier in the year by cutting around 1,000 jobs in its Reality Labs division, followed by another round affecting hundreds of employees in March. At the same time, the company has been moving thousands of employees into AI-focused roles while protecting teams working on AI infrastructure, foundation models and AI monetisation.
The Facebook parent has also been replacing some content moderation work previously handled by contractors with AI-powered systems. The trend extends beyond Amazon and Meta. Companies including Cisco and Microsoft have also announced layoffs or workforce restructuring in recent months, with executives saying resources are being redirected toward AI development.
