Exclusive: Amazon board, led by Bezos, weighs unprecedented plan to replace up to 800,000 workers with AI

By Technology Desk

February 27, 2026 at 9:22 p.m. EST

SEATTLE — Amazon’s executive chairman Jeff Bezos has circulated a sweeping internal proposal that could lead to the elimination of nearly half of the company's 1.57 million global employees over the next three years, replacing them with advanced artificial intelligence systems and autonomous robotics, according to internal documents obtained by The Washington Post and three people familiar with the matter.

The initiative, internally dubbed "Project Day Zero," marks the most aggressive automation effort in corporate history. If executed, the restructuring would sever ties with roughly 785,000 workers, fundamentally reshaping the world’s second-largest private employer and sending shockwaves through the global labor market.

While Andy Jassy officially succeeded Bezos as CEO in 2021, the leaked documents illustrate that the billionaire founder remains heavily involved in long-term strategic directives. In a memo addressed to Jassy and the board of directors dated early February, Bezos argued that the rapid maturation of generative AI agents and autonomous spatial robotics has rendered the company's massive human footprint "an unsustainable friction point" in an era of hyper-efficiency.

"We are no longer bridging the gap between human limitation and customer demand; technology has built a new bridge entirely," Bezos wrote in the memo. "To maintain our customer obsession in the coming decade, we must radically lean into algorithmic and mechanical autonomy."

Amazon declined to comment directly on the leaked documents. In a written statement, company spokesperson Kelly Nantel said, "As a matter of policy, we do not comment on rumors or speculative internal brainstorming. Amazon is constantly exploring ways to improve efficiency and lower prices for our customers, which includes investing heavily in cutting-edge AI and robotics. We remain committed to our workforce and the communities we operate in."

A Two-Pronged Automation Strategy

According to the documents, the workforce reduction would be implemented across two primary vectors: logistics and corporate operations.

In fulfillment centers, the rollout of Amazon's next-generation "Sparrow" and "Proteus" robotic systems, combined with a new overarching AI logistics supervisor codenamed "Omni," is projected to automate 70% of warehouse picking, packing, and sorting tasks by late 2028. This shift would drastically reduce the need for blue-collar floor workers.

On the corporate side, Project Day Zero outlines a mass consolidation of middle-management, human resources, and customer service roles. Amazon plans to deploy specialized AI agents capable of handling complex vendor negotiations, supply chain routing, and high-level customer dispute resolutions without human oversight.

Economic Fallout and Labor Backlash

The sheer scale of the proposed layoffs has immediately raised alarms among economists and labor organizers. A single corporation shedding nearly 800,000 jobs would eclipse the largest historical mass layoffs, potentially triggering regional economic crises in logistics hubs across the United States, Europe, and India.

"This isn't just a corporate restructuring; it's a structural earthquake for the working class," said Sarah Mitchell, a labor economist at the Economic Policy Institute. "Amazon has spent the last two decades building an empire on the backs of human labor. Discarding half of that workforce in favor of algorithms is going to require an unprecedented federal response regarding unemployment and retraining."

The Amazon Labor Union (ALU), which has fought a grueling, multi-year battle to organize fulfillment centers, called the leaked proposal a "declaration of war on workers."

"Bezos and the board are showing their true colors," ALU President Chris Smalls said in a statement Thursday evening. "They are perfectly willing to devastate hundreds of thousands of families just to squeeze out a few more points of profit margin for Wall Street. We will fight this at every facility and in every legislature."

The revelation of Project Day Zero comes at a time of intense scrutiny over AI's impact on employment. While tech executives have long promised that artificial intelligence would create more jobs than it destroys, Amazon's internal math tells a starkly different story—one where efficiency explicitly requires human subtraction.

Investors, however, appeared to welcome the news. In after-hours trading following early rumors of the automation push, Amazon’s stock surged by nearly 6%.

Note: The Washington Post is owned by Jeff Bezos.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/02/27/bezos-amazon-ai

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