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Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced that the company plans to decrease its corporate workforce as it adopts more generative AI tools. “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 as we get efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company,” Jassy said in a company memo on Tuesday. He added that Amazon is utilizing AI to optimize inventory placement, enhance demand forecasting, and improve its robots, noting that this has resulted in lower costs and faster delivery speeds. Amazon announced in February that it will spend $100 billion on capital expenditures, driven by investments in artificial intelligence, according to CNBC. The company has reduced its workforce in recent years, having laid off over 27,000 employees since 2022, CNBC reported. AI’s Influence...
Editorial Note: Opinions and thoughts are the author’s own and not those of AFROTECH™. The New York Times inked a multi-year deal with Amazon last month to license its content to Amazon’s artificial intelligence models. Amazon will have access to The New York Times’ content, including NYT Cooking and its sports publication, The Athletic. Amazon’s AI services, such as Alexa, will produce real-time summaries and short excerpts. Similar to other news publishers, The New York Times views a licensing deal as a viable way to generate profits as AI companies attempt to siphon copyrighted content to train their chatbots. Attitudes towards AI use, especially regarding news organizations, can be polarizing. Other publishers such as The Washington Post, Associated Press, and Axios have also signed deals with AI companies to license their content. A few years ago, AI companies were using copyrighted material without permission. Media company Ziff Davis and The New York Times sued OpenAI and...
An Amazon-backed AI model threatened to blackmail engineers. In March 2024, Amazon announced a $4 billion investment in Anthropic, according to a news release. Anthropic is a company building frontier artificial intelligence (AI) systems that its leaders believe are safe and reliable, according to its website. One of its technologies is Claude, which is an AI model that has the capabilities of advanced reasoning, vision analysis, code generation, and multilingual processing. The company has been utilizing Amazon Web Services’ tools as its “primary cloud provider for mission critical workloads.” “We have a notable history with Anthropic, together helping organizations of all sizes around the world to deploy advanced generative artificial intelligence applications across their organizations,” Dr. Swami Sivasubramanian, vice president of data and AI at AWS, said in the news release. “Anthropic’s visionary work with generative AI, most recently the introduction of its state-of-the art...
Through their roles, Nikki Taylor White And Obi Nwigwe are improving workplace safety at Amazon. Nikki Taylor White Both share a common mission to bridge the gap in technology and lead by example, with Amazon serving as their home base to pursue this work. White, a Howard University graduate, is the global director of ergonomics within Amazon’s worldwide corporate health and safety organization. Her goals center on improving workplace safety and design on a global scale. “It’s my priority to ensure we follow the hierarchy of controls across the ergonomics spectrum, which starts with eliminating any existing or potential hazards, and we do this by implementing automation and robotics into our processes and workspaces to create safer environments for our employees,” White told AFROTECH™. Obi Nwigwe As for Nwigwe, he serves as a software development manager for Amazon Robotics. He began building smaller-scale systems while pursuing an electrical engineering degree at The University of...
Jackson Aimiuwu was 19 years old when he first got his hands on a computer, and now he is paving the way at a major technology company. Aimiuwu attended the University of Calgary and earned a Bachelor of Science in computer science. His first year was the most challenging due to not having a computer, but it solidified his interest in the field. He also credits his cousin, who studied computer science and was able to bridge tech and business in his career. Aimiuwu is now doing the same through his role at Amazon Web Services (AWS). Prior to this, his career trajectory included a role at EMC’s (now part of Dell) headquarters in Toronto, Canada, as a senior solutions architect and team lead (pre-sales), which gave him the opportunity to manage a team at Canadian Tire — the second-largest retailer in the country — from 2016 to 2019. He provided support to the company’s chief technology officer and helped build its first private cloud. “They were trying to really change how they went to...
As Amazon unveils new technology, it is also proving to be a win for its employees. Vulcan At Amazon’s 2025 Delivering the Future event held May 6–7 in Dortmund, Germany, the company introduced the Vulcan, Amazon’s first robot with a sense of touch. Made possible by an artificial intelligence-powered sensor, it is the first of its kind and is able to use video rather than still images to monitor and control its motions, as noted by Aaron Parness, Amazon’s director of applied science in robotics and artificial intelligence. “We’re at the golden age for robotics. AI is allowing us to develop systems that can interact with the physical world and not just the ones on our screens,” Parness said during the Main Event held at Amazon’s Last Mile Innovation Center. Vulcan will be beneficial to its employees who are fulfilling orders for customers at the company’s facilities thanks to the robot’s ability to pick and stow away 75% of the items stored in the warehouses. “One of the really...
Editorial Note: Opinions and thoughts are the author’s own and not those of AFROTECH™. Trump’s tariffs have upended multiple industries. For bigger companies like Apple and Microsoft, or fast fashion behemoths like Zara, tariffs can be easily avoided by moving their distribution elsewhere. But for smaller businesses that don’t possess the same infrastructure, they don’t have that ability. Most Americans would agree that manufacturing should come back to the United States. Over the past decades, companies have moved their work abroad to take advantage of lower wages and the lack of unions that protect workers from abuses. In short, it’s easier to take advantage of the cheap labor offered in other countries like China, Thailand, and Vietnam. The whole system is inherently problematic, especially when we look at how workers in the United States are constantly berated and not treated properly. Moving manufacturing back to the states will also mean, unfortunately, that prices for goods...
With space being the next great frontier, many big names have been throwing their hat in the ring to venture beyond Earth’s atmosphere. Space exploration has become the name of the game for several companies that strive to make humans a multi-planetary species. Mankind’s growing need for resources has seen an increased interest in galaxies far, far away, however, the vision of life on Mars will take plenty of money and research before it can be realized. While many people know of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, there is another contender that is making headlines for its’ out of this world exploration . Blue Origin, another privately owned space company, has made headlines over the last year for launching space missions with iconic crew members . On Monday, Apr. 14, they continued that trend by sending the first all-female crew (including celebrities like Gayle King and Katy Perry) on a mission. Here’s what we know about Blue Origin’s owner , history and latest ventures. Blue Origin Is Owned By...
Amazon, owned by Jeff Bezos, has placed a bid to acquire TikTok. As AFROTECH™ previously told you, the app owned by ByteDance is facing a ban in the United States due to its association with China — although TikTok states it is not tied to the Chinese government. The app will only avoid a ban if it is sold to a company based in the United States. At the time of this writing, ByteDance has shown no interest in selling TikTok, which reaches over 170 million users in the United States, despite the ban’s looming deadline of April 5. The target date was extended by 75 days after Donald Trump signed an executive order upon assuming office on Jan. 20. “We have been fighting to protect the constitutional right of free speech for the more than 170,000,000 Americans who use our platform every day to connect, create, discover, and achieve their dreams,” TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said on the platform. “On behalf of everyone at TikTok and all our users across the country, I wanna thank President...
Editorial Note: Opinions and thoughts are the author’s own and not those of AFROTECH™. While President Donald Trump has delayed the tariffs on Canada and Mexico for another month, tariffs have already been imposed on China. Tariffs on China include a 10% tax, along with closing a loophole that helped boost China-owned brands like Temu and Shein. When a foreign shipment arrives, it goes through customs and gets inspected, and the importer has to pay an import tax depending on the size of the shipment. For almost a century, there’s been a loophole where small packages under a certain value would be exempt from that tax, called “de minimis.” Ten years ago, Congress expanded the exemption to include packages worth under $800. Stores like Temu, Shein, and Chinese drop shippers that sell on Amazon and the TikTok Shop have used the loophole to their advantage. The majority of retailers ship products in bulk to U.S. warehouses as they go through the traditional customs process. Shein and...
Editorial Note: Opinions and thoughts are the author’s own and not those of AFROTECH™. On February 1st, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to impose tariffs on America’s biggest trade partners: Mexico, Canada, and China. Canada and Mexico were supposed to face a 25% tariff, while China received a 10% tax. In response, Canada, Mexico, and China announced that they would retaliate by imposing their own tariffs on American goods. On February 10, China will hit the US with a 15% tariff on coal and a 10% tariff on crude oil, farm equipment, and some vehicles. The Trump administration has prioritized tariffs as a key policy focus, despite warnings from economic experts about their potential negative impact on the economy. Many voters supported Trump due to his economic promises, but since taking office, several of his policy decisions have contributed to rising costs of living. As of last week, tariffs on Canada and Mexico have been postponed until March, as both countries...
Amazon has updated its company policy and a section of its website that provides employment information, removing language that ensures protection for Black and LGBTQ+ employees. In late December 2024, the company removed statements supporting and advocating for transgender rights protections as well as expressing “solidarity” with Black employees and customers, according to The Washington Post. Amazon also removed language supporting laws to address misconduct and racial bias in policing, initiatives to protect and expand voting rights , and efforts to promote better health and educational opportunities for Black people. The sections titled “Equity for Black People” and “LGBTQ+ Rights” no longer exist in the company’s policy, along with all references to the term “transgender.” The “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” section now states that “inequitable treatment of anyone — including Black people, LGBTQ+ people, Asians, women, and others — is unacceptable.” A page once titled...
For over a decade, Amazon has been committed to providing free legal services to communities in need. Pro Bono Program In 2014, David Zapolsky, Amazon’s senior vice president of global public policy and general counsel with 35 years of legal experience, launched a pro bono program. This allowed Amazon to scale its efforts to deploy free legal assistance. This initiative has played a pivotal role in breaking down barriers for underserved communities worldwide. “ Amazon employees were highly engaged in pro bono service long before the pro bono program’s formal launch, but our efforts have expanded greatly on a global scale with a more organized structure in place to help engage and support employees, encourage and facilitate partnerships with law firms and third-party organizations, and provide trainings and other resources for team members across the globe who have a passion for this impactful work,” Sean Croman, vice president and associate general counsel of Amazon’s Legal...
As a Black woman tech executive at Amazon, Mamar Gelaye is on a mission to diversify the industry. Gelaye, an Ethiopia native, has a decades-long career spanning more than 20 years that dates back to her time as a management consultant at Accenture. Her interest in technology was evident while attending the University of Tennessee, where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. She even worked on a hybrid electric vehicle project during this time. Belief In Technology Her faith in the advancements of technology remained strong, and following her time at Accenture, she pursued roles that reflected this. “I just really understood that technology was going to transform a great deal. I just understood that software was gonna control the machine,” she explained. “So when I left management consulting, I went into large industrial companies that were kind of big manufacturing, but manufacturing through automation, through kind of transformational engineering.” In...
Amazon is pulling the plug on its remote work policy and reinstating a full-time office presence, reverting to pre-COVID operational norms. CEO Andy Jassy shared the news on Monday, letting employees know to prepare to return to the office full-time starting on Jan. 2, 2025, as the world’s largest online retailer works to strengthen its culture and teams. In a memo to employees , Jassy stated, “When we look back over the last five years, we continue to believe that the advantages of being together in the office are significant.” He asserted that the last 15 months of hybrid work have only strengthened this belief, noting that “collaborating, brainstorming, and inventing are simpler and more effective” when teams are physically present. According to Fox Business, Amazon shifted from a remote work model to a mandatory three-day-in-office policy in May of last year. The retail giant’s CEO reflected on the pre-pandemic work culture in his memo, explaining, “Before the pandemic, not...