Amazon workers are supervised by AI
If the system determines the employee is failing to meet production targets, it can automatically issue warnings and terminate contracts without a supervisor’s intervention
Documents obtained by The Verge show how Amazon uses a computer system to automatically track and fire hundreds of fulfillment center employees for failing to meet productivity quotas — a grim glimpse of a future in which AI is your boss, writes Futurism.com.
According to Business Insider, Amazon has fired more than 300 workers at a single facility in Baltimore in a single year. Amazon’s system tracks several metrics, including “time off task,” meaning how much time workers pause or take breaks.
If the system determines the employee is failing to meet production targets, it can automatically issue warnings and terminate contracts without a supervisor’s intervention, although Amazon said that a human supervisor can override the system.
While all employees in every job know they could be fired if they fail to meet their performance objectives, few of us are managed by an automated system tracking our every movement that has full authority to make that decision.
Critics say that Amazon treats workers like robots, who are monitored and supervised by these automated systems.
Regardless, Amazon’s fulfillment centers have seen a lot of automation over the past decade. A complex system of warehouse robots have been replacing jobs — while also sometimes creating new ones.
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