Amazon will cut about 14,000 corporate jobs as it restructures around AI, trimming layers and bureaucracy while shifting work toward automation.

On Tuesday, Amazon began its first round of layoffs, firing around 14,000 employees, just a day after Reuters reported that a total of 30,000 layoffs were planned. CEO Andy Jassy has said that the company’s increasing reliance on artificial intelligence would likely lead to more job cuts in the coming months.

Amazon’s cloud-computing arm plans to invest an additional $5 billion in South Korea over the next six years to build new artificial-intelligence data centers in the country.

Amazon's HR chief also explained the 14,000 cuts in part by saying AI is helping companies innovate faster.

Amazon has announced an approximately 14,000 person reduction in its corporate workforce. The news follows an earlier report from Reuters that up to 30,000 people could be let go. However, the exact number of layoffs is unclear, with the 14,000 figure being cushioned by planned hirings.

A major outage last week disrupted Amazon's cloud division for 15 hours, affecting hundreds of companies and raising questions about AWS' resilience.

Amazon's AI systems and advanced technology will create a "safe, more productive" environment for employees as the e-commerce giant plans to avoid hiring 600,000 workers by 2033.

Amazon has announced it will be scything more than 14,000 jobs as part of its efforts to streamline operations in the era of artificial intelligence.