In late October, while many were still secretly thinking about collecting their year-end bonuses before job-hopping, or pondering the “resurgence” of the job market, news that Amazon was “purging” its operational apparatus with a massive layoff—affecting up to 14,000 people—left everyone stunned.
Although this is a story in the U.S., office workers around the world couldn’t help feeling worried and anxious. Because ultimately, this isn’t just about one corporation cutting staff, but a story about work skills—especially for those working in technology, and concerns about when they’ll be completely replaced by AI.
The Hearts of Those Affected
The “white-collar” workers at Amazon whose names appeared on the late October 2025 layoff list call this a “horrifying shock.” Two years after the wave of layoffs emerged and “swept through,” despite being mentally and psychologically prepared, they still couldn’t imagine losing their jobs this way, at this time.
On GeekWire, an employee with over 6 years of tenure in Amazon’s Robotics department bitterly confided: “I still haven’t recovered. This is the first time in my life I’ve been laid off.”
Another senior software engineer said: “I started as an SDE I, and in just 3 years was promoted to SDE III. My performance review last month exceeded expectations, meaning just one month ago, I was still an outstanding employee. And now, I’ve been fired. It turns out anyone can be replaced no matter how hard they’ve tried to do well.”
On Reddit, numerous Amazon employees who had just been laid off also shared and opened up about the scene of being “pushed out”: Some received termination emails right in the middle of their vacation, others couldn’t log into the system as soon as they started their shift.
One person wrote: “About a few dozen minutes after receiving the layoff email, I lost access to everything I was working on. I didn’t even have a chance to look back at my accomplishments or hand over what was still unfinished.”
Another person, who used to work in Amazon’s operations department, revealed: “I helped deploy a tool that automated part of my job. Six months later, that very tool replaced me.”
Alongside this, many people also shared and confided on LinkedIn—a platform originally used for job hunting that has now become a place to pour out feelings for those who’ve just been laid off.
Yusuf Khan, a software engineer who had been with Amazon for over 2 years, wrote on LinkedIn: “It’s hard to believe I’m closing a journey full of experiences, learning, and growth. During my time here, I built large-scale backend systems and data pipelines on AWS—from Glue ETL processing millions of records, microservices deployed with CDK serving multi-region tax payments, to AI integration through Bedrock helping automate financial reporting.
It was truly a wonderful journey, and I’m always proud of what I accomplished…”
Another software engineer, who had spent nearly 4 years with Amazon, shared from a different angle: “Previously, my team needed 5 people to check product data daily. After applying an internal AI model, only 2 people were enough. None of us said we were laid off because of AI, but everyone understood why they lost their jobs.”
These confessions, whether brief or tearful, all expose the reality that behind the figure of “tens of thousands of people affected” are individuals struggling with psychological and financial shock.
Many admitted they never thought they would be laid off by Amazon in such a cold manner: No face-to-face meeting, no warning.
From Amazon’s “Massive Purge”: Are We Really Falling Behind AI?
On the surface, Amazon’s bold move to cut tens of thousands of employees makes many immediately think of a “dark future”: Machines and artificial intelligence (AI) gradually replacing humans. But are we really falling behind, or are we just facing a transitional phase we haven’t had time to adapt to?
Technology experts call this the “transitional period”—when AI isn’t perfect enough to completely replace humans, but is already smart enough to make everyone wary.
In an interview with The Guardian, Professor Geoffrey Hinton—regarded as the “father of modern artificial intelligence”—warned: “AI could cause millions of people to lose their jobs. Not just workers, but programmers, accountants, journalists… All jobs based on language and data models are at risk of being replaced.”
This assessment is clearly not empty words, as massive layoffs worldwide, across all fields and professions, all “converge” on one common reason: Restructuring operations, optimizing operational processes with AI. Machine learning systems (a branch of artificial intelligence) can now analyze user data faster and more accurately than any team of personnel, and chatbots handle customer care 24/7 without breaks.
However, the situation isn’t so pessimistic that workers have “no chance” of winning. The Future of Jobs 2025 report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) points out that AI may take jobs from one group of people, but at the same time, it also creates new jobs—especially in fields like data analysis, model training, cybersecurity management, or content creation. WEF estimates that by 2030, nearly 97 million new jobs will emerge thanks to AI technology, partially compensating for affected industries.
McKinsey & Company also offered a similar assessment in research published in mid-2025: “Repetitive, process-based” jobs will gradually disappear, but in return, labor demand for creative skills, management, and digital skills will increase sharply.
“AI doesn’t take jobs, it takes tasks within jobs,” McKinsey’s report states. “Winners are those who know how to use AI to expand their capabilities, rather than fear it.”
Research from the Brookings Institution (USA) also indicates the same: AI has the potential to replace 40% of current workload, but 70% of surveyed businesses say they still want to retain personnel capable of ensuring creativity, ethics, and emotion in decisions.
Stanford University economist Erik Brynjolfsson commented: “The problem isn’t that AI is too strong, but that humans haven’t been equipped with the skills to collaborate with AI.”
From a more positive perspective, many tech companies have begun to shift direction: Instead of cutting staff, they’re opening “AI Upskilling” programs to train employees to use new tools proficiently. Google, Microsoft, and even Amazon itself are rolling out internal courses to help employees learn to leverage GenAI in operations, rather than being replaced by it.
Therefore, if we must draw a lesson from Amazon’s “massive purge,” it’s probably this: AI doesn’t make humans fail, but it forces us to change faster than ever. Technology is just a tool, and that tool will help those who know how to use it, eliminating those who stand still.
No Comments