AWS CEO: Replacing Junior Employees With AI Is Bad Business

AWS leader pushes back on AI displacement narrative

While some tech executives warn that artificial intelligence will eliminate entry-level positions, Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman is making the opposite case. In a recent interview with Wired, Garman called replacing junior software developers with AI "one of the dumbest things I've ever heard" and outlined why the strategy fails on multiple fronts.

Garman's argument centers on basic economics and long-term organizational health. Entry-level workers typically earn the least, making them the most expensive positions to eliminate when factoring in the cost of retaining only senior talent. Beyond the numbers, junior employees bring recent academic training, enthusiasm, and native fluency with AI tools themselves.

"If you have no talent pipeline that you're building and no junior people that you're mentoring and bringing up through the company, we often find that that's where we get some of the best ideas," Garman told Wired. "You've gotta think longer term about the health of a company."

Amazon's hiring plans contradict displacement fears

Amazon plans to hire 11,000 interns and recent graduates in 2026, according to Garman's comments on the Platformer podcast this week. The company employs more software developers today than it did two years ago, despite advances in AI coding assistants.

This hiring stance contrasts with warnings from other industry leaders. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has cautioned about AI displacing entry-level workers, while Ford CEO Jim Farley predicted the technology would eliminate half of white-collar jobs.

The employment data remains mixed. A Stanford University study from August found AI having a "significant and disproportionate impact" on entry-level workers aged 22 to 25, particularly in software engineering and customer service. However, economists like Apollo's Torsten Slok note that the unemployment gap between recent graduates (5.6%) and the general population (4.2%) predates ChatGPT's November 2022 launch and hasn't widened significantly since.

The automation paradox at Amazon

Garman's public position sits alongside Amazon's own automation initiatives. The company eliminated 14,000 positions last October, primarily middle management roles, and conducted additional layoffs earlier in the year across AWS and other divisions. CEO Andy Jassy attributed those cuts to cultural realignment rather than AI, though internal memos cited AI efficiency gains as enabling "leaner teams."

A New York Times investigation reported Amazon's goal to automate 75% of its work, potentially affecting 600,000 positions the company wouldn't need to fill.

Garman acknowledges AI will reshape work but rejects catastrophic predictions. He compared the transition to Microsoft Excel's introduction, which eliminated manual calculation jobs while creating demand for spreadsheet skills.

"I do think that half of white-collar jobs may change, but wipe out and change are different," Garman said on the podcast. He argued that eliminating half of all jobs would collapse the economy entirely, making the scenario self-defeating.

Why it matters

Garman's stance highlights a critical tension in workforce planning as AI capabilities expand. Companies face pressure to demonstrate AI adoption while maintaining the talent development pipelines that sustain long-term innovation. His argument that junior workers represent both cost efficiency and fresh perspectives challenges the assumption that automation should start at the bottom of organizational charts. The debate has immediate implications for hiring strategies and how companies balance short-term productivity gains against future talent needs.

These details were first reported by Fortune.