Amazon cuts jobs in artificial general intelligence group as it reshuffles AI priorities

Amazon is cutting jobs within its artificial general intelligence group, the unit once positioned as the company’s moonshot bet on building the most advanced AI systems. The cuts come as Amazon redirects resources toward AI projects it considers more immediately strategic.

A sweeping restructuring

Amazon has eliminated approximately 30,000 jobs between October 2025 and January 2026, with roughly 14,000 corporate positions cut in October and an additional 16,000 announced in January.

The AGI organization itself has a relatively short and turbulent history at Amazon. The company stood it up in July 2023 under Rohit Prasad, the executive who had previously led Amazon’s Alexa efforts. The unit was tasked with developing Nova foundation models and pushing toward frontier AI capabilities.

By December 2025, Amazon reorganized its AI efforts under Peter DeSantis, merging the AGI unit with the company’s silicon and quantum computing teams. Prasad, who was instrumental in building the AGI group from scratch, departed Amazon at the end of 2025.

One notable appointment amid the reshuffling is Pieter Abbeel, who was tapped to lead frontier model research within the AGI organization with a specific focus on robotics.

The Alexa connection

Back in November 2023, the company laid off several hundred employees from its Alexa business. Some of those affected had been positioned within the newly formed AGI organization.

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