AI will replace some jobs but create new ones, Amazon CEO says

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said that AI will reduce the need for human workers in certain roles but will also generate new categories of employment, as he addressed the technology's impact on the workforce during a recent CNBC interview.

Speaking on CNBC's 'Squawk Box' following the announcement of Amazon's $50 billion investment in OpenAI, Jassy was asked about Jack Dorsey's plan to cut 40% of his staff due to AI productivity gains. He responded that AI represents "the most transformational technology shift that we've seen in our lifetime."

"I do believe that a lot of the jobs that we've thrown human beings at the last 20 or 30 years, you won't need as many human beings doing those same jobs," Jassy told CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin. "But I also think there will be other jobs created. And that has always happened in every technology shift."

In the interview, Jassy pointed to the emergence of cloud computing as a precedent, noting that "15 years ago, there was no such thing as a cloud solutions architect, and today there are tens of thousands, maybe 100,000 plus, of these types of jobs." "So we will have lots of new jobs, and there'll be some sort of transition, and we'll all work through it together," he added.

The comments come amid ongoing concerns that rapid AI adoption could displace workers across multiple industries, with economists and technologists debating whether this technological shift will follow historical patterns of job creation or prove fundamentally different.