Amazon Detects And Fires Low-Productivity Workers Using AI

Well this time, it seems like AI is taking people’s jobs, literally. The Verge’s obtained documents show how a computer system was deployed by the giant e-commerce Amazon to automatically detect and dismiss hundreds of employees at the fulfillment center for low productivity.

While the computer system does not always make a decision, the documents, which described the system, show how extremely automated the process is. It is unclear if the system is still in use.

The Verge quoted the letter, saying:

After this story went online, Ashley Robinson, Amazon spokesperson responded to The Verge’s reporting with a statement which failed to offer any specific examples for inaccuracies.

The statement read:

Nevertheless, for the last decade, Amazon’s fulfillment centers have undergone a great deal of automation. For example, warehouse robots have replaced human employees.

The online retailer is infamously known for its terrible working conditions. Last year, an unnamed employee sent a letter to the Guardian talking about the company’s unusually strenuous demands for its warehouse workers.

But putting the power to fire an employee in the hands of artificial intelligence which keeps track of invasive details such as how much time employees spend on “off task” sounds even more shocking.

Stacy Mitchell, an Amazon critic, told The Verge: