Amazon lays off employees in artificial general intelligence division

Amazon cuts major jobs in its artificial general intelligence group AGI, marking the latest in a series of smaller reductions across the company since a much larger one in January.

An Amazon spokesperson confirmed the decision, stating, "We're sharpening our focus on the initiatives that matter most for customers, so we can move faster on what counts. That focus means some difficult decisions, including eliminating some roles within parts of our AGI organization."

The decision was announced on Wednesday while the company did not disclose the total number of impacted roles, the reductions affect teams in divisions such as AGI Data Services and AGI Information.

AGI (Artificial general intelligence) is a hypothetical AI system that surpasses human intelligence and can learn, grow and operate autonomously.

Many of the top AI companies are working to develop similar systems, with the hope of deploying them to solve difficult problems.

Reports indicate that teams under key AGI sub-units such as AGI Data Services and AGI Information were affected by the cut and affected U.S. employees are receiving 90 days of pay and benefits, outplacement support, and severance eligibility.

The targeted cuts follow larger corporate workforce reductions earlier in the year as Amazon shifts resources toward high-priority generative AI projects, its Nova model family, and AWS cloud infrastructure.

The move also follows high-profile departures within Amazon's AGI leadership over recent months, including former AGI head Rohit Prasad and AGI Lab lead David Luan. 

While, AGI operations were subsequently consolidated under Senior Vice President Peter DeSantis.

Despite major layoffs within the company, Amazon said it remains committed to advancing AGI research and building AI technologies that can be integrated across its businesses.