Employees of tech heavyweight Amazon have penned a letter to CEO Andy Jassy regarding the company’s aggressive rollout of AI and the negative effects it is having on employees and global affairs.
The petition has been signed by over 1,000 employees within the company itself and over 2,000 people who represent other organizations.
“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. We believe that the all-costs-justified, warp-speed approach to AI development will do staggering damage to democracy, to our jobs, and to the earth,” read the letter.
The letter points out certain strategies and initiatives created and supported by Amazon sich as pushing aside its climate change goals in favor of building more data centres, making employees produce more output under shorter deadlines, lobbying alongside other tech giants to stop state regulation on AI.
What is the current state of the AI sector in the U.S.?
The AI landscape in the U.S. is currently dominated by all tech giants in the ’magnificent seven’: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla. All of these companies either have or are looking to secure a significant presence in AI.
The development of the sector right now is marked by infrastructure deals worth billions of dollars over the long term and the rapid development of AI chips and data center infrastructure to ensure that no U.S. technology firm is left behind in this race.
Valuations for such endeavours and startups in the field have also been noted at sky-high levels, while Silicon Valley offers some of the most lucrative salaries for talent with skills and expertise in this sector.
The leaders of such companies, who either occupy chairman positions or maintain direct involvement through CEO responsibilities, all maintain a largely bullish stance on AI.
While Jeff Bezos maintains significant ownership and control over Amazon, Andy Jassy heads more immediate initiatives, which include the urgent development of AI-driven capabilities for the firm.
Jassy has indicated in an email to employees earlier this year that AI would lead to job cuts and people who used the technology would be better positioned.