Amazon founder 'totally disagrees' that AI will make humans redundant at work
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos believes that artificial intelligence will lead to a "labour shortage," as he rejected assumptions that the technology will cost humans jobs.
Bezos expressed these beliefs at a technology conference in Paris, where he was joined by Blue Origin CEO David Limp and former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino.
Bezos, who also founded Blue Origin, said in the panel that he "totally disagreed" with the perceptions that AI will make humans redundant.
"I know there's a lot of concern that many people have, including many smart people, that AI is going to make humans redundant and so on," Bezos said.
"I totally disagree with this point of view and I think, in fact, AI is going to create a labour shortage because it's going to make it possible for people to identify more problems."
The technology could also enable people to bring to life business or product ideas that they once conceived but never pursued.
"The reason it stayed in your head and went nowhere is because it's too hard to do and it wasn't worth it. And if we can accelerate the dream-build loop, all of the ideas will then become possible," Bezos said.
"And then we end up being limited not by our capabilities but by our imaginations."
This is not the first time that Bezos has said AI will lead to talent shortages. He also previously argued in a Financial Times interview that future productivity gains from AI adoption will create more jobs than they eliminate.
"The people who are jumping to the conclusion that the jobs are all going to go away," Bezos previously said. "I think these people are just wrong."
AI's impact on jobs
The Amazon founder expressed these remarks as AI emerges as the top reason for why organisations are laying off employees.
In the United States, data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas showed that AI is the top reason for job cuts announced for the month of May, as cited in 38,579 job cut announcements.
This is equivalent to 40% of all job cuts recorded during the period, and 22% of all job cuts announced since 2026 began, according to the data.
Even in Amazon, CEO Andy Jassy also previously warned employees that generative AI will change the way they work, including their headcount.
"We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs," Jassy said last year. "It's hard to know exactly where this nets out over time, but in the next few years, we expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce as we get efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company."
AI's impact on the workforce remains a highly debated issue. While the data shows that employers are implementing AI-driven job cuts, experts are pointing out that others may just be using the technology as a scapegoat for their workforce changes.
A perspective that they can agree on, however, is that AI will change the employment landscape for both employers and employees.
Data from PwC already reveals a "two-track" labour market emerging from AI adoption, where some roles are now elevating the need for human expertise, while others are reducing skill barriers for complex tasks and cutting the need for expertise.
"It may be time for the debate on work and AI to move on from fear of AI automation to more nuanced questions about how AI reshapes the value workers can deliver," said Joe Atkinson, Global Chief AI Officer, PwC.
