Amazon's Beth Galetti last month sought to reassure employees that mass layoffs weren't becoming routine, despite cutting over 30,000 workers since October. The $2.2 trillion company's leadership frames the reductions as strategic positioning for AI innovation and operational efficiency. Yet survivors describe unsustainable workloads and mounting pressure as Amazon pushes to operate "like the world's largest start-up."

Current and former employees across Amazon's ad, cloud, and retail divisions report plummeting morale as the company demands more output with fewer resources. Some workers experience "survivor's guilt" while facing steeper performance targets. Amazon has mandated AI tool adoption through internal dashboards like Clarity, though employees say these tools often create more problems than they solve.

Engineers report increased service incidents and technical debt as teams struggle with reduced headcount. Despite deploying AI tools like Kiro and Q chatbot, Amazon acknowledges these won't immediately replace workers. The company's aggressive AI investment strategy, while promising long-term productivity gains, has created immediate workplace tensions that could signal broader industry challenges as tech giants compete for AI dominance.