It is Not a Lie, It’s the Fault of AI!

Bisnow March 4, 2026 Amazon is planning to cut 49,000 desks from its office footprint in perhaps the biggest shift in its real estate strategy since it courted offers from cities and states for a second headquarters in 2017. Management told members of Amazon’s global real estate and facilities group on Feb. 3 that the company aims to cut its average office vacancy from around 31% to just under 23% this year, according to a transcript of the call obtained by the Puget Sound Business Journal. he space-saving goal could impact more than 14M SF of the tech giant’s office space if each desk is assigned to one worker, with the average workspace having 146 SF per worker in 2024, according to CBRE.  Under CEO Andy Jassy, Amazon was one of the most aggressive and outspoken firms pulling workers back to the office after the pandemic, and it mostly eliminated hybrid work at the start of 2025. Thousands of Amazon employees were told in June to relocate to specific areas to be closer to their teams as part of the company’s belief in the power of in-person collaboration. to CBRE. The firm has also positioned itself on the leading edge of AI adoption, with Jassy telling staff in a June memo that some jobs were quickly becoming obsolete.

I asked AI how AI was causing corporate downsizing and here is what she said: “Major corporations are increasingly citing artificial intelligence (AI) and automation as drivers for significant downsizing in 2025 and early 2026, with over 100,000 employees impacted in 2025 and over 30,000 in early 2026. While AI is directly replacing roles in some cases, it is also being used as a justification for restructuring to improve efficiency, a phenomenon sometimes referred to as “AI washing,” where companies attribute broader cost-cutting measures to AI. AI is currently most effective at reducing “middle-layer” management, administrative, and basic support roles. “