At a time when every major tech firm is keen on letting go of its human coders and other ‘AI-replaceable’ resources, Amazon’s cloud division has other thoughts. AWS, which has been involved in mega layoffs, is now backing the retention of junior employees amid the mega adoption of AI in the country. AWC CEO Matt Garman is now opposing replacing junior employees with AI tools, labeling it as ‘one of the dumbest things’ he has ever heard.
In a conversation on the Matthew Berman podcast, Garman voted for emphasising the long-term value of nurturing young talent. “They’re probably the least expensive employees you have. They’re the most leaned into your AI tools,” he stated, highlighting the dual benefits of cost-effectiveness and adaptability.
AWS CEO not in favour of firing young engineers
Garman questioned the sustainability of a strategy that sidelines new talent, asking, “How’s that going to work when you go like 10 years in the future and you have no one that has built up or learned anything?”
The AWS chief’s take stands in stark contrast to what other prominent figures in the AI space have said. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has suggested that AI agents are already performing on par with junior-level staff, with workers now acting as managers for these digital coworkers. Similarly, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has warned that AI could lead to a significant increase in unemployment among white-collar workers, potentially eliminating half of all entry-level jobs within the next five years.
AWS itself had let go of hundreds of employees earlier in the year owing to a wider adoption of AI. However, Garman suggests that AI should be viewed as a tool to enhance, not replace, human creativity and problem-solving. He advised students and young professionals to focus on developing critical thinking and a learning mindset rather than specialising in a single skill set that could quickly become obsolete.
Stresses on learning
“If you spend all of your time learning one specific thing and you’re like, ‘That’s the thing I’m going to be expert at for the next 30 years,’ I can promise you that’s not going to be valuable 30 years from now,” he said.
Even GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke has shed light on how valuable young engineers are to any organisation. Dohmke pointed out that students and new graduates can adopt AI faster and approach it with no reservations. “They get it because they are taking this with an open mind,” he said.
