Amazon Cuts Jobs, Shifts Focus to AI: Alexa Division to Feel the Impact
US tech giant Amazon has announced it will cut hundreds of jobs from the unit responsible for popular voice assistant Alexa as the company shifts its business focus to focus on generative artificial intelligence (AI).
Alexa is an artificial intelligence-based voice assistant that can be used to set timers, make search queries, play music or as a home automation center. According to Reuters, the cuts affect several hundred employees working at Alexa.
“We’re shifting some of our efforts to better align with our business priorities and what we know is most important to customers—which includes maximizing resources and focusing our efforts on creative AI. These changes are causing us to end some initiatives,” said Daniel Rausch, vice president of Alexa and Fire TV in the email.
According to the report, Amazon is streamlining the operations of various divisions this month, with cutbacks in music, gaming and certain human resources roles noted.
Most of the impactful positions were within the device division, but a subset was involved in Alexa-related projects in a separate unit. A broader trend involves companies directing resources toward generative artificial intelligence, a technology capable of producing software code and extensive text responses based on short prompts.
Reuters reported in September that the appliance division’s morale had suffered due to concerns about what some said was a weak product mix. In particular, people familiar with the matter pointed to the now nearly decade-old Alexa voice assistant failing to keep up in the era of generative artificial intelligence.
The US tech giant has struggled to make a profit from Alexa, which many people use through Echo speakers or video displays. Most of the efforts to monetize it have focused on making it easier to buy from Amazon.com.
The company has cut more than 27,000 jobs over the past year, part of a wave of layoffs in the U.S. tech industry after the industry has been hiring heavily during the pandemic.
(via Reuters feeds)
