Key Takeaways In the letter, employees claim that Amazon is prioritizing AI over its climate goals and its people.
Amazon defended its climate and AI investments in response.
Amazon employees are voicing serious concerns about the company’s AI rollout.
Over 1,000 Amazon staff members anonymously signed an open letter addressed to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and the senior leadership team last week. In the letter, employees warned that the company’s current AI strategy threatens jobs and the environment.
The signatories range from Whole Foods workers to IT staff and represent a small percentage of Amazon’s 1.53 million total employees, according to its third-quarter earnings report. More than 3,600 workers outside of Amazon also signed the letter.
Related: Amazon CEO Reveals the Real Reason Behind the Company’s 14,000 Job Cuts
In the open letter, the signatories claim that Amazon is “casting aside its climate goals to build AI” and point to the company’s annual emissions growing by 35% since 2019, despite a commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. Credit: David Ryder/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Amazon strongly rejected the claims and defended its climate and AI investments. Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser told Fortune in a statement on Tuesday that the letter’s claim that the company has put aside its climate goals is “categorically false and ignores the facts.”
“Amazon is already committed to powering our operations even more sustainably and investing in carbon-free energy,” Glasser said in a statement. “This includes supporting two advanced nuclear energy agreements and investing in more than 600 renewable energy projects worldwide.”
... continue reading