By Jordan Valinsky, CNN

New York (CNN) — Amazon is laying off 16,000 employees, the company’s second round of massive job reductions in three months as it fights to improve its standing in the battle for AI supremacy.

In a blog post Wednesday, the company said it needed to reduce red tape to increase its decision making speed.

“We’ve been working to strengthen our organization by reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy,” said Beth Galetti, Amazon’s senior vice president of people.

Amazon in late October announced it was cutting 14,000 corporate employees, following a directive from CEO Andy Jassy’s vision of operating like the world’s biggest startup. He wants the company to remain nimble so it can adapt and change quickly as AI upends the technology sector.

Galetti said in the blog post that the waves of layoffs won’t become a “new rhythm,” even though Jassy predicted Amazon would continue to reduce its employment rolls because of AI. Instead, Amazon evaluating the “ownership, speed, and capacity to invent for customers, and make adjustments as appropriate,” Galetti said.

She added, however, that Amazon will hire in areas in “strategic areas and functions that are critical to our future.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

The-CNN-Wire
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