Amazon Employees Warn AI Threatens Jobs, Climate

Over 1,000 Amazon employees have argued that artificial intelligence (AI) development could cause severe harm to jobs and the climate. Amazon announced in October last year that it would lay off 14,000 employees to respond to AI innovation.

More than 1,000 Amazon employees and over 2,400 employees from Microsoft, Google, and other companies recently sent an open letter to Amazon CEO Andrew Jassy and executives, stating, “The ultra-fast AI development approach will cause enormous damage to democracy, our jobs, and the planet.” They added, “Management claims that fewer employees will be hired due to AI agents, assistants, and that remaining jobs will become more exciting and fun,” but argued, “In reality, this is repeating a cycle of increased workloads, shorter deadlines, mandatory construction of useless AI tools, and almost no investment in career development.”

The employees also claimed that Amazon has postponed its climate goals to prioritize AI development. They stated, “Despite promising to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, Amazon’s annual carbon emissions have increased by approximately 35% since 2019,” and noted, “Amazon plans to invest $150 billion (approximately 220 trillion Korean won) in building new data centers for AI.” They argued that if these data centers are constructed in arid or energy-strained regions, they could deplete local water and energy resources.

The employees demanded the establishment of an ethical AI working group composed of non-managerial staff. This group should have authority over organizational AI goals, AI utilization within the company, and AI-related layoffs. They also called for transitioning all data centers to operate on 100% regional renewable energy available 24 hours a day. “It is time to begin discussing the true benefits and costs of AI,” they said.