Amazon CEO Andy Jassy recently sent a memo to employees highlighting the company’s progress in artificial intelligence (AI). While Jassy touted the benefits of AI, including making Alexa “meaningfully smarter” and improving customer service chatbots, he also mentioned that Amazon plans to replace some workers with AI agents.
Jassy did not specify when or how many jobs would be replaced, but stated that it will happen in the next few years. He warned that AI is coming and is already being built, although its creation pace is fast.
However, experts note that the fear-mongering surrounding AI’s impact on the workforce may be exaggerated. Automation and machine learning have been around for decades, and while they have affected the labor market, it’s unlikely that generative AI will usher in a doom-slash-utopia.
Tech CEOs Jensen Huang and Demis Hassabis of Nvidia and Google Deepmind, respectively, disagree with the apocalyptic take on AI’s impact. Instead, they suggest focusing on what AI is good at – producing reports, synthesizing information, and solving strategic puzzles – and what it’s still bad at – physically lifting things.
Microsoft recently released a report highlighting how workplace innovations like email, Slack, and Teams have led to increased interruptions during the workday, with an average employee receiving 275 pings per day. The company plans to address this issue by re-orienting jobs around AI agents.
It’s essential to consider these factors when evaluating the impact of AI on the workforce. By understanding what AI can do and its limitations, we can make more informed decisions about how to adapt to this technology.
Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/06/18/business/ai-warnings-ceos