"A growing number of Amazon employees have signed onto an open letter issuing some dire warnings about the company's sprint toward AI. The letter, signed by more than 1,000 workers and published this week, calls out Amazon for pushing its AI investments at the expense of the climate and its human workforce. The letter's supporters come from a wide array of roles at the company, including many software engineers, and even employees focused on building AI systems."
"Resource intensive data centers like the ones Amazon is pouring billions into building out are a hot topic in 2025. The buildings, built to power tech giants' AI ambitions, pump in loads of electricity to keep servers humming and suck up water to cool off all of that energy use. Data centers, usually placed well beyond urban hubs, promise rural communities a boom of steady local jobs for many of the world's most valuable companies, but the reality is often less inspiring."
More than 1,000 Amazon employees issued warnings that the company's rapid AI push prioritizes AI investments over climate commitments and workers' welfare. Signatories include software engineers and employees who build and train AI systems. They state that an all-costs, warp-speed approach to AI development will harm democracy, jobs, and the planet, and that workers involved with AI have a responsibility to intervene. Amazon pledged net-zero carbon by 2040, citing efficiencies like electric vehicles and reduced packaging, yet emissions rose last year amid delivery fleet pollution and large-scale data center construction. Data centers consume vast electricity and water and provide few long-term local jobs.
Read at Fast Company
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