Amazon's cloud unit sent a condolence-style email and a team meeting invitation that reached many employees hours before a planned round of job cuts, according to people who saw the messages. The communication, coming from a senior applied AI executive, indicated employees in the U.S., Canada and Costa Rica had been told they were losing their positions - a claim that conflicted with broader reports that formal notifications of affected staff had not yet been completed.
The email, signed by Colleen Aubrey, senior vice president of applied AI solutions at AWS, referred to the job reductions internally as "Project Dawn" and sought to acknowledge the difficulty of the changes. In the note, Aubrey said "Changes like this are hard on everyone," and added that such choices are "difficult and are made thoughtfully as we position our organization and AWS for future success."
Recipients who discussed the messages in workplace chat channels reported that the meeting scheduled for Wednesday was canceled almost immediately after the early notice went out. Separate reporting earlier in the week indicated the company intended to cut thousands of corporate roles beginning this week, but that wider notification of impacted employees and a formal confirmation of the plan had not yet occurred.
The premature communication appears to have been an operational misstep, resulting in confusion among affected teams. Several employees shared that they received the email and the invite, then saw the invite rescinded shortly afterward. The messages specified affected locations in the U.S., Canada and Costa Rica.
Amazon has not provided a public response to requests for comment about the email, the canceled meeting, or the timing and scope of the reported workforce reductions. The situation highlights the sensitivity and logistical complexity of large-scale personnel actions when notification processes are not fully coordinated.
Context and immediate fallout
The early notice drew attention because it contradicted reports that formal employee notifications had not yet been delivered. The canceled meeting invite and the rapid spread of the email in internal channels intensified uncertainty within affected teams.
"Changes like this are hard on everyone," Aubrey wrote in the email reviewed by those who received it.
At this time, questions remain about the precise scope of the planned reductions and the timing of any official company communications to impacted staff. Those details have not been confirmed publicly.