Overview
- The New York Times, citing internal documents and interviews, reports Amazon projects avoiding more than 160,000 U.S. hires by 2027, saving about $0.30 per item and roughly $12.6 billion from 2025 to 2027.
- Documents indicate a long‑term goal to automate roughly 75% of operations, with executives briefing the board that automation could let sales double by 2033 without adding about 600,000 U.S. roles.
- Amazon says the materials reflect one team's perspective, denies instructing executives to avoid terms like automation or AI, and notes plans to hire about 250,000 workers for the holiday season.
- Examples of the shift include a highly automated Shreveport, Louisiana facility using about 1,000 robots and employing roughly 25% fewer workers than a comparable site, with designs slated for replication at about 40 facilities by the end of 2027, including Virginia Beach.
- Nobel laureate Daron Acemoglu cautions that profitable automation at Amazon could make the company a net job destroyer and spur rivals to follow, while political scrutiny has intensified with public criticism from Sen. Bernie Sanders.