Amazon lays off employees in its Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) division

Amazon on Wednesday laid off employees from its Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) division, marking the latest in a series of smaller workforce reductions across the company following its much larger round of layoffs in January.

The company has not disclosed how many employees were affected by the latest cuts. However, Amazon eliminated around 16,000 jobs across various teams during its January restructuring.

Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) refers to a form of AI that is designed to perform any intellectual task a human can, rather than being limited to specific functions like today's AI systems. Unlike conventional AI models, which excel at narrowly defined tasks, AGI aims to reason, learn, adapt and apply knowledge across a wide range of domains.

More from Tech

A defining characteristic of AGI is its ability to transfer knowledge from one area to another, enabling it to tackle unfamiliar problems without requiring task-specific training. Researchers also envision AGI as possessing a broad understanding of the world, allowing it to make decisions using context, reasoning and common sense. Although significant progress has been made in artificial intelligence, AGI remains a long-term research goal and has not yet been achieved.

Previous Layoff's

Amazon had previously laid off around 16,000 employees in January, with the cuts affecting Amazon Web Services (AWS), its retail operations, Prime Video and the company's human resources division. Prior to that, Amazon eliminated nearly 14,000 corporate roles in October as part of its broader restructuring plan, bringing the total number of job cuts to roughly 30,000.

The broader technology sector has also seen significant workforce reductions. According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, tech companies have laid off around 140,000 employees in the US so far this year—more than any other industry. Besides Amazon, major technology firms including Meta, Salesforce and Cisco have also announced layoffs across various business units as they continue to streamline operations and rein in costs.