Amazon is reported to be planning a second round of job cuts next week as part of its broader goal to shed about 30,000 staff, with many posts being cut due to the rise of artificial intelligence software.

The world’s biggest retailer, founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos, who remains executive chairman and is the largest individual shareholder, cut 14,000 white-collar jobs in October, and the total this time is expected to be about the same as last year and could begin as soon as Tuesday.

Jobs at the company’s Amazon Web Services, retail, Prime Video and human resources, known as people experience and technology, units are expected to be affected, although the scope may be wider. Reuters first reported the story.

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The Seattle online company tied the October round of job cuts to the rise of AI software, saying in an internal letter that this generation of AI is the most transformative technology seen since the internet, and that it is enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before.

However, Andy Jassy, Amazon’s chief executive, later told analysts during the company’s third-quarter earnings call that the reduction was not really financially or AI driven. Instead, he said: “It’s culture.”

“You end up with a lot more people than what you had before, and you end up with a lot more layers,” he added. Jassy had said earlier in 2025 that he expected Amazon’s corporate workforce to shrink over time as a result of efficiencies gained from the use of AI.

Corporations are increasingly using AI to write code for their software and adopting AI agents that automate routine tasks, as they look to save costs and cut their reliance on people. Amazon touted its latest AI models during its annual AWS cloud computing conference in December.

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The total of 30,000 positions would represent a small portion of Amazon’s 1.58 million employees, but nearly 10 per cent of the company’s corporate workforce. The majority of Amazon’s workers are in fulfilment centres and warehouses.

They would be the largest layoffs in Amazon’s three-decade history. The company trimmed about 27,000 jobs in 2022.

Affected workers in October were told they would remain on the payroll for 90 days, during which time they could apply for jobs internally or seek other employment. That period expires on Monday.