More than 1,000 Amazon employees have issued a public warning to the company’s leadership, including Andy Jassy and the S-Team, claiming that a rapid and “justified with all costs” push into artificial intelligence could cause huge harm to democracy, jobs, and the planet. The open letter, titled “Join over 1,000 Amazon employees and over 2,000 solidarity signers demanding a responsible rollout of AI”, has been organized by activist group Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (AECJ).

So far, the letter has been signed by more than 1,039 Amazon employees and more than 2,436 people outside Amazon. The signatories include senior engineers, managers, scientists, designers, logistics staff and marketing professionals, who are calling for a slowdown in what they describe as the “warp-speed” rollout of AI technologies that prioritize profit and automation over ethics, sustainability and human well-being.

In the letter, workers argue that the company’s current approach risks undermining democratic institutions, accelerating climate change, and eliminating jobs through aggressive automation. “We have serious concerns about this aggressive rollout during our most crucial years for reversing the rise of global authoritarianism and the climate crisis,” the letter reads. Employees are urging the company to create an ethical AI working group that includes non-managerial employees, giving them meaningful participation in developing and deploying the technology. They are also demanding transparency about how AI tools are impacting workloads, career paths and working conditions.

Amazon’s emphasis on AI and job cuts

The open letter comes amid a tumultuous year for Amazon, which has reportedly cut nearly 14,000 jobs as part of an ongoing cost-savings and automation drive. CEO Andy Jassy has repeatedly described AI as central to Amazon’s future, suggesting that new “AI agents” will streamline operations and eventually reduce the need for many existing roles. For many employees, that message has only deepened fears that generic AI will not only reshape their work, but potentially replace them entirely. “It’s not just about superintendency in the future,” said one veteran employee. “The cost we are paying now – to the planet and to people – is already too high.”

climate concerns

Along with concerns about job security, Amazon workers are also raising concerns about the environmental impact of the company’s rapidly growing data center footprint. Despite a commitment to achieve net-zero carbon by 2040, the Amazon’s annual emissions have reportedly increased by 35 percent since 2019. The letter accuses the company of “setting aside its climate goals for the sake of building AI,” pointing to Amazon’s $150 billion plan to build new data centers, many of which will be located in drought-prone areas or areas dependent on fossil-fuel-powered energy grids. The workers further alleged that Amazon has moved against clean-energy rules for data centers and continues to provide AI tools to oil and gas companies that help them drill more efficiently through AWS.

Through this open letter, Amazon employees say they are hoping to start a broader conversation about the social and environmental costs of corporate AI development, both within Amazon and across the broader tech industry. “The Amazon employees who signed this letter believe in building a better world – not in building bunkers to fall back into. We want the promised benefits of AI to give everyone more freedom to play and relax, spend time with family and friends, be inspired by nature, create, feel safe in who we are,” the employees write.