Amazon is chopping jobs within the Alexa division and is shedding “a number of hundred” workers. Those that will likely be laid off will embrace workers working within the synthetic basic intelligence group. The event comes every week after the corporate trimmed down its groups working in music and gaming divisions in addition to job cuts in some human assets roles.
Daniel Rausch, Amazon’s vice chairman of Alexa and Hearth TV, knowledgeable the group concerning the layoffs on Friday (November 17). He stated that the corporate is shifting its assets to concentrate on generative AI. Learn his letter to workers:
Group,
We’re actually inspired by the progress we’re making with Alexa: clients are interacting with Alexa tens of hundreds of thousands of occasions each hour and there are greater than half a billion Alexa units in clients’ properties. Our investments in generative AI are additionally bringing our imaginative and prescient for an much more intuitive, clever, and helpful Alexa nearer than ever earlier than. As we proceed to invent, we’re shifting a few of our efforts to raised align with our enterprise priorities, and what we all know issues most to clients—which incorporates maximizing our assets and efforts targeted on generative AI. These shifts are main us to discontinue some initiatives, which is leading to a number of hundred roles being eradicated.
As we speak, we are going to attain out to colleagues within the U.S. and Canada who’re impacted by these position reductions. Notification emails will likely be despatched out shortly, and we anticipate all notifications within the U.S. and Canada to be accomplished this morning (Pacific time). We are going to talk with impacted colleagues in India subsequent week, and are following native processes in different areas, which can embrace time for session with worker consultant our bodies, and probably leading to longer timelines to speak.
To these of you impacted by these reductions, please know we didn’t make this determination frivolously. I need to sincerely thanks for all of your exhausting work and dedication to the group, and to our clients. We’re dedicated to supporting you, and are offering packages that embrace a separation cost, transitional medical insurance advantages, exterior job placement help, and paid time to conduct your job search.
Whereas this was a tough determination to make, we stay very optimistic about the way forward for Alexa. I need to reiterate that Alexa stays an extremely vital a part of our enterprise. I’m pleased with the innovation we’ve pushed, and proceed to drive. Incorporating a brand new giant language mannequin right into a voice-forward, private AI, has been and continues to be an unlimited scientific and engineering problem. I’m excited for our clients to quickly expertise the way forward for Alexa, and to listen to their suggestions, in order that we will proceed to invent and evolve the expertise for them.
As all the time, please don’t hesitate to succeed in out to me or anybody on the management group when you’ve got any questions.
-Daniel
Daniel Rausch, Amazon’s vice chairman of Alexa and Hearth TV, knowledgeable the group concerning the layoffs on Friday (November 17). He stated that the corporate is shifting its assets to concentrate on generative AI. Learn his letter to workers:
Group,
We’re actually inspired by the progress we’re making with Alexa: clients are interacting with Alexa tens of hundreds of thousands of occasions each hour and there are greater than half a billion Alexa units in clients’ properties. Our investments in generative AI are additionally bringing our imaginative and prescient for an much more intuitive, clever, and helpful Alexa nearer than ever earlier than. As we proceed to invent, we’re shifting a few of our efforts to raised align with our enterprise priorities, and what we all know issues most to clients—which incorporates maximizing our assets and efforts targeted on generative AI. These shifts are main us to discontinue some initiatives, which is leading to a number of hundred roles being eradicated.
As we speak, we are going to attain out to colleagues within the U.S. and Canada who’re impacted by these position reductions. Notification emails will likely be despatched out shortly, and we anticipate all notifications within the U.S. and Canada to be accomplished this morning (Pacific time). We are going to talk with impacted colleagues in India subsequent week, and are following native processes in different areas, which can embrace time for session with worker consultant our bodies, and probably leading to longer timelines to speak.
To these of you impacted by these reductions, please know we didn’t make this determination frivolously. I need to sincerely thanks for all of your exhausting work and dedication to the group, and to our clients. We’re dedicated to supporting you, and are offering packages that embrace a separation cost, transitional medical insurance advantages, exterior job placement help, and paid time to conduct your job search.
Whereas this was a tough determination to make, we stay very optimistic about the way forward for Alexa. I need to reiterate that Alexa stays an extremely vital a part of our enterprise. I’m pleased with the innovation we’ve pushed, and proceed to drive. Incorporating a brand new giant language mannequin right into a voice-forward, private AI, has been and continues to be an unlimited scientific and engineering problem. I’m excited for our clients to quickly expertise the way forward for Alexa, and to listen to their suggestions, in order that we will proceed to invent and evolve the expertise for them.
As all the time, please don’t hesitate to succeed in out to me or anybody on the management group when you’ve got any questions.
-Daniel
