Are We All Getting Caught Up in the AI Craze?

I work at Amazon, and a friend shared this open letter that employees have written that outlines the consequences of the Amazon's turbocharged AI rollout. It’s well-written and got me thinking about impacts they point out. Basically they’re saying 1) Amazon is abandoning its climate commitments; 2) cozying up to the current administration and building AI for military, surveillance, and deportation contracts while lobbying against regulations; and 3) forcing employees to train AI while almost openly talking about eliminating their jobs.(They have written it more clearly and have quoted sources for these)

Do folks here think that the AI rollouts we’re seeing are at all compatible with climate goals?

I am thinking of signing this anonymously, since it feels like everyone is just blindly steamrolling ahead with the AI craze, and I’m glad to see someone bringing some reason to the discussion and try to get us to pause a bit. Hopefully, this will stir more of a conversation within the tech space.

It's clear leadership hasn't ever really cared about the climate, but thank you so much for sharing this - it really encapsulates what so many of us are feeling. I used to be really excited about AI, and then normies who only cared about making money fast took over, and now we get all the environmental destruction and surveillance the letter talks about. Hoping this makes some waves.

Sucks to see leadership sticking their head in the sand and pushing for internal adoption at all costs. Hate wading through other people's slop code trying to understand if it actually does anything let alone what it says it does. Also the silent walkback on the climate goals is pure cowardice

Yeah, all I see is straight up panic across leadership in Amazon. They are desperate to prove AI is working without regards the environment or their workers. We're heading rumors of pending layoffs all in the hopes to demonstrate to investors that AI is making the company more efficient. I agree with the points in this letter and signed a few weeks back.

I’m already in an org that is seriously lacking in innovation and the way every employee talks about how their singular, mundane AI hack is going to bring the company into 2056 is… disheartening.