*More than 1,000 Amazon employees have expressed concerns about the company’s fast-moving AI initiatives.
As Newsweek reports, the open letter, addressed to CEO Andy Jassy and senior leadership, called for a more cautious strategy that incorporates worker input, climate commitments, and oversight of AI applications. The letter comes as Amazon prepares to cut up to 30,000 corporate positions—nearly 10% of its roughly 350,000-person corporate workforce—to offset overhiring during the pandemic and adapt to AI-driven efficiencies. Layoffs are expected across multiple business units, including human resources, operations, devices and services, and Amazon Web Services.
Jassy has indicated that expanding AI use could further reduce workforce needs, stating in June that “we will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs.” Analysts suggest Amazon is leveraging AI gains to support a significant reduction in corporate staff while balancing long-term investments in AI infrastructure.
The open letter, signed by over 1,000 Amazon employees and 2,400 additional solidarity supporters, criticized the company’s investments in energy-intensive AI data centers, claiming they undermine climate goals. It also highlighted the strain on workers due to higher productivity expectations, limited career growth, and AI-driven metrics. “Amazon is forcing us to use AI while investing in a future where it’s easier to discard us,” the letter stated.
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“The Amazon employees signing this letter believe in building a better world—not in building bunkers to fall back to,” per the open letter. “We want the promised gains from AI to give everyone more freedom to play and rest, to spend time with family and friends, to be moved by nature, to create, to feel safe being who we are.”
Employees also expressed concerns about Amazon’s work with defense firms and government agencies, alleging contributions to a more militarized surveillance state. The letter demanded clean energy plans for data centers, employee-guided AI policy groups, and suspension of AI products used for violence, surveillance, or mass deportation.
MORE NEWS ON EURWEB.COM: Amazon to Slash Up to 30,000 Corporate Jobs as AI and Cost-Cutting Drive Restructuring
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