Thousands of Amazon employees have signed an open letter issuing some dire warnings about the company’s AI efforts. The letter, signed by more than 1,000 employees (and counting), accuses Amazon of driving AI investments at the expense of the climate and workforce. The letter’s supporters come from a variety of roles within the company, including many software engineers and employees focused on building AI systems. “We believe that a cost-justified, warp-speed approach to AI development will do staggering damage to our democracies, our jobs, and our planet,” the letter authors wrote. It adds: “We have a responsibility to intervene because we are the workers who develop, train, and use AI.”The letter was reportedly signed anonymously by Amazon employees and was sent nearly a month after Amazon announced plans for mass layoffs to expand the use of AI in its operations. Signatories include employees in a variety of positions, including engineers, product managers, and warehouse personnel. The letter claims their employers are abandoning their climate commitments in the race to win the AI race. Amazon has pledged to reduce its carbon footprint to net zero by 2040, and cites increasing efficiency with electric delivery vehicles and reducing plastic packaging as part of its efforts to combat climate change.
The full text of the open letter from over 1,000 Amazon employees is below:
dear
In recent years, technology leaders have accelerated the race to be the first to build the most powerful AI. “Sink or swim,” “AI isn’t going anywhere,” and “Work with AI or be replaced by AI” have become watchwords in the workplace at Amazon and beyond.
We, the undersigned Amazon employees, are gravely concerned about this aggressive development at a time when authoritarianism is on the rise globally and at a most critical time for reversing the climate crisis. We believe that a cost-justifying, warp-speed approach to AI development will do incredible damage to our democracies, our jobs, and our planet.
We have a responsibility to intervene because we are the workers who develop, train, and use AI. Here’s why we’re sounding the alarm:
Amazon is abandoning climate goals and developing AI. We have only a few years left to halt catastrophic levels of global warming. But despite pledging to net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, Amazon’s annual emissions have increased by about 35% since 2019. The AI race is widening this gap. The company plans to spend $150 billion building new data centers for AI. Many will be located in areas plagued by drought, where water consumption is scarce, or where energy demands force utilities to keep coal-fired power plants running or build new gas plants. Amazon even repealed a law requiring its data centers to use clean energy. Meanwhile, AWS is helping oil companies drill more oil and gas.
Amazon is forcing us to use AI while investing in a future that will easily discard us. Andy Jassy has promised that he expects Amazon to soon be filled with AI tools and “agents” and fewer human jobs. He claims that our (remaining) jobs will be “more exciting and fun,” but what we are actually experiencing is an expected increase in production volumes and shorter timelines, an obligation to build AI tools to address wasteful use cases, and huge investments in AI with little investment in career advancement. Our logistics colleagues have been particularly affected by work speed-up, surveillance, injuries and burnout. All this while Amazon is trying to have the National Labor Relations Board, which protects worker rights, declared unconstitutional.
Amazon is helping create a more militarized surveillance state with fewer protections for civilians. Amazon, along with Meta, Microsoft and Google, lobbied for a ban on state regulation of AI for the next 10 years. In his AI Action Plan, Trump financially blocked state regulatory action. President Trump has called for an end to “wokeness” in AI. Amazon scaled back its DEI efforts and gave the administration a $1 billion coupon for AWS. DOGE officials called the deal “a foundational piece in supporting the implementation of President Trump’s AI Action Plan.” The military wants to bring AI technology to full speed. Amazon announced a partnership with an autonomous weapons software company. President Trump’s ICE director wants to carry out mass deportations “like the prime minister, but with human power.” Amazon, a major provider of cloud services to DHS and Palantir, is literally carrying out mass deportations. Amazon is expanding its surveillance state in other ways as well. We’re making Ring AI-first and reintroducing tools for law enforcement to request footage. The company uses AI to monitor its warehouse workers and, of course, its own customers. Finally,
All of this is daunting, but none of it is inevitable. A better future is still within reach, but it requires getting real about the costs of AI and the necessary guardrails.
We are asking Amazon’s leaders to:
There are no AIs with dirty energy.
No more vague promises that “AI will solve the climate crisis.” Amazon must implement a public plan that includes: 1) providing 100% additional local renewable energy to all data centers 24/7, 2) retiring custom AI solutions for oil and gas companies to drill more oil faster, and 3) publishing a detailed, science-backed glide path for how it will achieve its climate change commitments.
There is no AI without employee voice.
We would like to see ethical AI working groups across the company made up of non-managers with greater responsibility for organizational-level goals, including how AI is used within the organization, how AI-related layoffs and freezes are implemented, and how to reduce or minimize collateral impacts of AI use, such as environmental impacts.
No AI for violence, surveillance, or mass deportation.
Amazon sells a wide range of products and services, from physical goods to digital infrastructure, movies, and medical services. There would be no need to help monitor civilians in Gaza, collaborate with AI companies that specialize in drone warfare, or support mass deportation machines.
The Amazon employees who signed this letter believe in building a better world, not building bunkers to vacate. We want the benefits promised by AI to give everyone more freedom to play and rest, spend time with family and friends, be inspired by nature, create, and feel safe to be themselves.
This is an incredibly momentous moment in history. It’s time for us to step up and facilitate the conversation about the real benefits and costs of AI. Workers have led Amazon to a better path before, and we can do it again. The choices we make now, for the planet, for people and for animals, are more important than ever. Let’s create something we can be proud of.
Signed,
1,039 Amazon employees (and counting!)
