Latest news with #AndrewJassy
Irish Examiner
6 hours ago
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Amazon boss tells staff AI means their jobs are at risk
The boss of Amazon has told white collar staff at the e-commerce company their jobs could be taken by artificial intelligence in the next few years. Andrew Jassy told employees AI agents — tools that carry out tasks autonomously — and generative AI systems such as chatbots would require fewer employees in certain areas. 'As we roll out more generative AI and agents, it should change the way our work is done,' he said in a memo to staff. 'We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs. It's hard to know exactly where this nets out over time, but in the next few years, we expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce. Amazon employs 1.5 million people worldwide, with about 350,000 working in corporate jobs such as software engineering and marketing. The retail giant employs 6,500 people in Ireland across Amazon and AWS, including corporate offices, operations sites, data centres and a customer service centre. At the weekend, the chief executive of the UK telecoms company BT said advances in AI could lead to deeper job cuts at the company, while Dario Amodei, the chief executive of the AI company Anthropic, said last month AI could wipe out half of all entry-level office jobs. Jassy said in the near future there would be billions of AI agents working across companies and in people's daily lives. 'There will be billions of these agents across every company and in every imaginable field. There will also be agents that routinely do things for you outside of work, from shopping to travel to daily chores and tasks. Many of these agents have yet to be built, but make no mistake, they're coming, and coming fast,' he said. Jassy ended the memo by urging employees to be 'curious about AI' and to 'educate yourself' in the technology and take training courses. Those who embrace this change, become conversant in AI, help us build and improve our AI capabilities internally and deliver for customers, will be well-positioned to have high impact and help us reinvent the company. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development — an influential international policy organisation — has estimated the technology could trigger job losses in skilled white-collar professions such as law, medicine and finance. The International Monetary Fund has calculated 60% of jobs in advanced economies such as the US and UK are exposed to AI and half of these jobs may be negatively affected. However, the Tony Blair Institute, which has called for widespread adoption of AI in the public and private sectors, has said the technology could displace up to three million private sector jobs in the UK, but the net loss will be mitigated by the technology creating new roles. The Guardian
The Guardian
11 hours ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Amazon boss tells staff AI means their jobs are at risk in coming years
The boss of Amazon has told white collar staff at the e-commerce company their jobs could be taken by artificial intelligence in the next few years. Andrew Jassy told employees that AI agents – tools that carry out tasks autonomously – and generative AI systems such as chatbots will require fewer employees in certain areas. 'As we roll out more generative AI and agents, it should change the way our work is done,' he said in a memo to staff. 'We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs. 'It's hard to know exactly where this nets out over time, but in the next few years, we expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce.' Amazon employs 1.5 million people worldwide, with about 350,000 working in corporate jobs such as software engineering and marketing. At the weekend the chief executive of the UK telecoms company BT said advances in AI could lead to deeper job cuts at the company, while Dario Amodei, the chief executive of the AI company Anthropic, said last month AI could wipe out half of all entry-level office jobs. Jassy said in the near future there will be billions of AI agents working across companies and in people's daily lives. 'There will be billions of these agents, across every company and in every imaginable field. There will also be agents that routinely do things for you outside of work, from shopping to travel to daily chores and tasks. Many of these agents have yet to be built, but make no mistake, they're coming, and coming fast,' he said. Jassy ended the memo by urging employees to be 'curious about AI' and to 'educate yourself' in the technology and take training courses. 'Those who embrace this change, become conversant in AI, help us build and improve our AI capabilities internally and deliver for customers, will be well-positioned to have high impact and help us reinvent the company,' he said. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development – an influential international policy organisation – has estimated the technology could trigger job losses in skilled white-collar professions such as law, medicine and finance. The International Monetary Fund has calculated 60% of jobs in advanced economies such as the US and UK are exposed to AI and half of these jobs may be negatively affected. However, the Tony Blair Institute, which has called for widespread adoption of AI in the public and private sectors, has said the technology could displace up to 3m private sector jobs in the UK but the net loss will be mitigated by the technology creating new roles.
Wall Street Journal
a day ago
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Amazon CEO Says AI Will Lead to Job Cuts
Amazon AMZN -0.45%decrease; red down pointing Chief Executive Andrew Jassy expects the e-commerce conglomerate will reduce its workforce because of artificial intelligence developments. Jassy said Tuesday that generative AI and agents are increasingly capable of doing more tasks at Amazon, which will impact the number and types of jobs human workers have in the next few years.
Reuters
22-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Ackman's hedge fund Pershing Square bets on Amazon, exits Canadian Pacific
NEW YORK, May 22 (Reuters) - Billionaire investor Bill Ackman told clients on Thursday that his hedge fund bought Amazon shares last month, betting earnings will continue to grow at the online retailer as President Donald Trump's tariffs bite less than consumers initially feared. Ackman and his investment team updated clients on additions to the portfolio at his hedge fund, Pershing Square Capital Management. "The most substantial move is Amazon," chief investment officer, Ryan Israel, said on a conference call. With a value of over $2 trillion, Amazon is one of the world's most valuable companies and has long featured on Ackman's list of most admired businesses. As one of the world's most voluble activist investors who often pushes companies to perform better, Ackman's stock picks are closely watched for investment trends. But Amazon stock had been too costly until early April when the market was battered by news of Trump's heavy tariffsfor imported goods and its price cratered. "We felt that the company would be able to work through any slowdown in the cloud computing division Amazon Web Services and we did not judge that tariffs would have a material impact on the earnings in the retail business," Israel said. Ackman and his team also expressed confidence in Amazon CEO Andrew Jassy, saying his ability to run the business more efficiently will allow for "more profit margin expansion at a high rate of revenue growth." Pershing Square had also added stakes in car rental company Hertz (HTZ.O), opens new tab and transport company Uber (UBER.N), opens new tab into the portfolio. At the same time, the firm sold out of railroad Canadian Pacific ( opens new tab, Ackman said, noting that it is a position the firm sold "with regret". Ackman in 2022 built a new stake in Canadian Pacific, returning to one of his most profitable investments as rail firms eye a boost from the drive to cut carbon emissions and as manufacturing is brought back to the United States and Mexico from abroad. But in order to buy the Amazon stake, Ackman needed to make adjustments and came to liquidate Canadian Pacific. He stressed that he thinks "extremely highly of the Canadian Pacific team" and has "a very strong belief in the long-term future of the business." The team also trimmed investments in Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG.N), opens new tab, Hilton Worldwide Holdings (HLT.N), opens new tab, Universal Music Group ( opens new tab and swapped the firm's Nike (NKE.N), opens new tab stock into call options, calling it a "deep-in-the-money strategy."
CNA
22-05-2025
- Business
- CNA
Ackman's hedge fund Pershing Square bets on Amazon, exits Canadian Pacific
NEW YORK :Billionaire investor Bill Ackman told clients on Thursday that his hedge fund bought Amazon shares last month, betting earnings will continue to grow at the online retailer as President Donald Trump's tariffs bite less than consumers initially feared. Ackman and his investment team updated clients on additions to the portfolio at his hedge fund, Pershing Square Capital Management. "The most substantial move is Amazon," chief investment officer, Ryan Israel, said on a conference call. With a value of over $2 trillion, Amazon is one of the world's most valuable companies and has long featured on Ackman's list of most admired businesses. As one of the world's most voluble activist investors who often pushes companies to perform better, Ackman's stock picks are closely watched for investment trends. But Amazon stock had been too costly until early April when the market was battered by news of Trump's heavy tariffs for imported goods and its price cratered. "We felt that the company would be able to work through any slowdown in the cloud computing division Amazon Web Services and we did not judge that tariffs would have a material impact on the earnings in the retail business," Israel said. Ackman and his team also expressed confidence in Amazon CEO Andrew Jassy, saying his ability to run the business more efficiently will allow for "more profit margin expansion at a high rate of revenue growth." Pershing Square had also added stakes in car rental company Hertz and transport company Uber into the portfolio. At the same time, the firm sold out of railroad Canadian Pacific, Ackman said, noting that it is a position the firm sold "with regret". Ackman in 2022 built a new stake in Canadian Pacific, returning to one of his most profitable investments as rail firms eye a boost from the drive to cut carbon emissions and as manufacturing is brought back to the United States and Mexico from abroad. But in order to buy the Amazon stake, Ackman needed to make adjustments and came to liquidate Canadian Pacific. He stressed that he thinks "extremely highly of the Canadian Pacific team" and has "a very strong belief in the long-term future of the business." The team also trimmed investments in Chipotle Mexican Grill, Hilton Worldwide Holdings, Universal Music Group and swapped the firm's Nike stock into call options, calling it a "deep-in-the-money strategy."
