Amazon Employees Raise Concerns Over Company's Aggressive AI Rollout

Amazon is facing internal resistance from its own workforce as more than 1,000 employees have signed a petition raising serious concerns about the company's aggressive rollout of artificial intelligence tools. The movement, organized by Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, represents a significant internal challenge to the tech giant's AI strategy during a period of massive investment in artificial intelligence technologies.

Employee Concerns and Internal Activism

The anonymous open letter, signed by Amazon workers across various departments, warns that the company's "all-costs-justified, warp-speed approach to AI development" could cause "staggering damage to democracy, to our jobs, and to the earth." According to WIRED's reporting, the petition has garnered support from high-ranking engineers, senior product leaders, marketing managers, and warehouse staff spanning many divisions of the company.

One senior engineering manager with over 20 years at Amazon explained their decision to sign the letter, stating that they believe a manufactured "race" to build the best AI has empowered executives to trample workers and the environment. "The current generation of AI has become almost like a drug that companies like Amazon obsess over, use as a cover to lay people off, and use the savings to pay for data centers for AI products no one is paying for," the employee told WIRED.

Environmental and Ethical Demands

The employee petition specifically demands that Amazon abandon carbon fuel sources at its data centers, bar its AI technologies from being used to carry out surveillance and mass deportation, and stop forcing employees to use AI in their work. "We, the undersigned Amazon employees, have serious concerns about this aggressive rollout during the global rise of authoritarianism and our most important years to reverse the climate crisis," the letter states.

Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser responded to the concerns by reiterating the company's commitment to reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2040. "We recognize that progress will not always be linear, but we remain focused on serving our customers better, faster, and with fewer emissions," he said in company statements. However, Glasser did not address specific employee concerns about internal AI tools or external uses of the technology.

Challenges in Employee Organizing

Organizers from Amazon Employees for Climate Justice reported that rallying support for the open letter was more difficult than in previous years because Amazon has increasingly restricted employees' ability to solicit people to sign petitions. The majority of signers for the new letter came from reaching out to colleagues outside of work, according to the organizers.

The climate justice group intentionally targeted reaching their signature milestone ahead of the Black Friday shopping period, aiming to remind the public about the cost of the technology powering one of the world's biggest online shopping platforms. The group believes it can have an impact by drawing attention to the environmental and ethical implications of Amazon's AI expansion.

This employee activism represents a rare instance of tech worker organizing during a challenging political environment. Despite the difficulties, members of the climate justice group say they felt compelled to combat potential harms from AI, focusing less on longer-term worries about superintelligence and more on immediate consequences that must be confronted now. As one decade-long veteran in Amazon's entertainment business noted, "What we're trying to say is, look, the costs we're paying now aren't worth it. We are in the few remaining years to avoid catastrophic warming."