AWS CEO Says AI Will Change About Half of White-Collar Jobs

Matt Garman, chief executive of Amazon Web Services, said on a podcast released Tuesday that artificial intelligence will change about half of white-collar jobs but will not wipe them out. Business Insider reported the comments from the Platformer episode. Garman compared the shift to the introduction of Microsoft Excel, which altered accounting work without removing the underlying roles.

He said new positions will emerge as economies require workers to earn and spend money. The executive stressed that employees willing to learn new skills will retain work, though the tasks will differ sharply from those performed two years earlier. Adaptability will outweigh any fixed skill set in hiring decisions, he added.

Garman also defended entry-level staff, noting they cost less to hire, absorb company culture readily, and bring fresh energy. Business Insider reported that Amazon will add more than 11,000 software development engineering interns and early-career engineers worldwide this year. Garman joined Amazon in 2005 as an MBA intern and became AWS chief executive in 2024.

At the end of 2025 the company employed roughly 1.58 million people worldwide, including about 350,000 corporate workers.