Amazon VP tells remaining workers to 'lean in on AI' in internal memo after massive layoffs (www.businessinsider.com)

Amazon has cut roles within its devices division as part of a broader corporate reduction that will eliminate about 14,000 positions, according to internal messages seen by Business Insider. Tapas Roy, VP of device software and services, told his team that some roles in the OS & Services org were eliminated and urged remaining employees to “lean in on AI,” focus on customer-impacting work, and simplify processes. The devices group — which handles R&D for consumer products like Kindle, Fire and Echo — completed notifications in the U.S. and Canada, while other regions may follow different timelines; the exact number affected in devices wasn’t disclosed. The memo and Amazon HR chief Beth Galetti’s comments that the company is “becoming leaner because AI is allowing companies to innovate faster” signal a shift toward using AI to boost engineering productivity and automate routine work. For the AI/ML community this underscores two trends: major tech firms are reallocating headcount toward higher-impact work supported by AI tooling, and device/software teams may accelerate adoption of model-based assistance (code generation, testing automation, system optimization) to shorten product cycles. The move could increase demand for robust, production-ready ML tooling and platform integrations, while raising questions about long-term R&D capacity and how responsibilities shift between human engineers and AI systems.