Why Amazon is eliminating hundreds of positions within Alexa division
What's the story
Amazon is cutting hundreds of jobs in the Alexa voice assistant division, as revealed by an email from Daniel Rausch, the vice president of Alexa and Fire TV, reported Reuters.
This move comes as the company shifts its focus toward generative artificial intelligence and aligns its efforts with business priorities.
Employees working on various Alexa-related projects across multiple departments would be impacted by these job cuts.
Details
Company is shifting focus to generative AI
In the email, Rausch mentioned that Amazon is "shifting some of our efforts to better align with our business priorities, and what we know matters most to customers — which includes maximizing our resources and efforts focused on generative AI."
Generative AI has the ability to produce software code and extensive text responses from brief prompts, making it an invaluable asset for companies like Amazon.
Scenario
Struggles with Alexa's profitability
Amazon has encountered difficulties in profiting from its Alexa voice assistant, which is mainly accessed through Echo speakers or video screens.
Alexa basically serves as a voice assistant capable of setting timers, answering search queries, playing music, and functioning as a home automation hub.
The majority of attempts to monetize this technology have revolved around enabling purchases from Amazon's official website. Amazon's voice assistant products are in direct competition with those from Google and Apple.
Insights
Thousands of job cuts happened in past year
The new layoffs are part of a broader pattern within Amazon, which has eliminated over 27,000 jobs throughout the company in the past year in a variety of divisions, including music, gaming, human resources, and more.
These reductions came after a surge in US tech layoffs following extensive hiring during the pandemic.
Despite these job cuts, Amazon reported third-quarter net income surpassing analyst predictions and projected fourth-quarter revenue in line with expectations.
Information
Rausch remains optimistic about Alexa's future
In his email, Rausch reportedly conveyed optimism about Alexa's future. He stated, "Incorporating a new large language model into a voice-forward, personal AI has been and continues to be an enormous scientific and engineering challenge." Amazon strives to improve Alexa's capabilities by incorporating generative AI technology.