Amazon Engineers Protest AI Spending While 30,000 Face Layoffs

CNBC reported Wednesday that Amazon engineers publicly challenged their employer’s aggressive AI infrastructure spending at a Seattle City Council hearing, pointing to the company’s simultaneous decision to cut tens of thousands of jobs.

Engineers Take the Stand in Seattle

Three Amazon employees addressed the council to voice frustration over what they described as an unchecked buildout of compute capacity. AWS software engineer Patrick Schloesser told officials that Amazon plans to deploy $200 billion in capital this year, largely on data centers and AI systems, while Microsoft is spending roughly $190 billion. He argued that Big Tech is racing to accumulate as much processing power as possible, regardless of the human cost.

Schloesser, a nearly six-year Amazon veteran, also called on data center developers to commit to renewable energy, abandon the use of shell companies and NDAs in project announcements, and fund a new city tax tied to large layoffs.

Background: Layoffs and the Startup Mandate

Amazon has eliminated more than 30,000 corporate positions since October 2025. CEO Andy Jassy has framed the reductions as a structural overhaul designed to strip out management layers and run the company like what he describes as the world’s largest startup. Amazon confirmed its $200 billion capex target in February and reaffirmed the figure in April, with the bulk directed at AI infrastructure.

The engineers who testified, including Liesl Wigand and Darius Irani, belong to Amazon Employees for Climate Justice. The group has long pressured Amazon on climate policy and workforce practices. Last November, it wrote to Amazon leadership urging a more responsible approach to AI deployment and greater transparency about the technology’s resource demands. Wigand, who has worked at Amazon for over 12 years, called the current moment an “all-costs-justified AI build out.”

Seattle Joins a National Pushback

The council voted unanimously to impose a one-year moratorium on new large-scale AI data center developments, giving the city time to establish regulatory frameworks. The measure followed overtures from four developers seeking to build five major facilities in the area. Two subsequently withdrew after community opposition intensified.

Seattle is not alone. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 14 states are weighing legislation to pause or ban new data centers. A separate industry analysis found that at least $156 billion in data center projects were blocked or delayed in 2025 due to local resistance and legal challenges.

Across Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft, combined capital expenditure commitments for 2026 stand at roughly $700 billion, almost entirely directed at AI infrastructure.

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