By abcnews
Publication Date: 2026-01-28 15:32:00
Amazon accidentally announced it would cut about 16,000 corporate jobs in favor of greater use of artificial intelligence in the e-commerce company’s second round of mass layoffs in three months.
The first warning many employees received about the impending announcement was a failed internal email within the tech giant.
The email sent Tuesday, signed by Colleen Aubrey, senior vice president of applied AI solutions at AWS, incorrectly stated that affected employees in the U.S., Canada and Costa Rica had already been notified of their job losses.
In Slack messages seen by Reuters, AWS employees who received the email said Wednesday’s meeting was canceled almost immediately. Amazon referred to the layoffs as “Project Dawn” in the email.
“Changes like this are hard for everyone,” Ms. Aubrey wrote in the email reviewed by Reuters.
“These decisions are difficult and will be made thoughtfully as we position our organization and AWS for future success.“
