Amazon engineers blast company for spending – Business News
Amazon engineers blasted their employer at a heated Seattle City Council listening to this week, accusing the tech giant of pouring billions into an AI-fueled information middle increase whereas slashing tens of hundreds of white-collar jobs.
The criticism got here as Seattle officers superior a one-year moratorium on new large-scale information middle developments, citing issues about energy consumption, water use and the pressure that AI infrastructure may place on native assets.
“It’s been reported that this year, Amazon is spending $200 billion on capital, with most of it going to data centers and AI,” Patrick Schloesser, a software program engineer at Amazon Web Services, informed council members on Wednesday.
Amazon engineers criticized the company’s AI information middle spending during a Seattle City Council listening to as Amazon continues a main workforce discount. Getty Images
“Meanwhile, the leaders at my company have laid off 30,000 corporate employees in the last eight months,” Schloesser stated. “What that tells me is that Big Tech is desperate to build as much compute capacity as it can, as fast as it can.”
The feedback highlight a growing pressure inside Amazon as CEO Andy Jassy pushes an aggressive AI growth whereas concurrently finishing up one of the biggest company workforce reductions in company historical past.
Since October, Amazon has cut roughly 30,000 company jobs by means of two main rounds of layoffs as half of Jassy’s effort to flatten management buildings and scale back forms.
The company introduced roughly 14,000 company job cuts in October and one other 16,000 in January.
At the identical time, Amazon has dedicated to spending roughly $200 billion on capital expenditures this yr, with the bulk earmarked for AI infrastructure and information facilities, in response to company disclosures cited during the listening to.
The conflict between workforce reductions and hovering AI investment has fueled criticism from some staff, notably members of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, an activist group made up of present and former staff.
Amazon has cut roughly 30,000 company jobs since October whereas growing investment in AI infrastructure. REUTERS
Schloesser and fellow Amazon engineers Liesl Wigand and Darius Irani appeared earlier than the Seattle City Council’s Land Use and Sustainability Committee to help tighter regulation of information middle development.
Wigand, who has labored at Amazon for more than a decade, criticized what she described as an “all-costs-justified AI build-out.”
“The biggest issue is a belief that AI should be how we solve everything, while ignoring the resources that it costs,” Wigand stated.
“This culture is omnipresent across tech. That’s why local governments, in collaboration with community stakeholders, should be setting the terms for data center build-out.”
The committee unanimously authorised the one-year moratorium on Wednesday.
The proposal emerged after 4 builders approached Seattle City Light about building 5 large-scale information facilities within the utility’s service territory. Two builders have since withdrawn their plans amid mounting opposition.
The debate has develop into a flashpoint in Seattle, the place elected officers are grappling with how to accommodate exploding demand for AI computing energy whereas addressing issues over electrical energy, water consumption and environmental impacts.
Seattle officers superior a one-year moratorium on new large-scale information facilities as town research their affect on native infrastructure. Agnieszka Gaul – stock.adobe.com
Amazon, nevertheless, pushed back towards options that it’s planning a main new information middle growth inside Seattle.
“We respect our colleagues’ right to voice their opinions,” Amazon spokeswoman Margaret Callahan informed The Post.
“Currently, we don’t have any plans to construct data centers within the Seattle city limits.”
Callahan added that Amazon stays dedicated to working responsibly in communities the place it does keep information facilities.
“Across the communities where we do operate data centers, we’re committed to being a responsible neighbor — investing in local economic development while prioritizing water and energy efficiency that exceeds industry standards,” she stated.
Amazon Web Services engineer Patrick Schloesser urged Seattle officers to require stronger oversight of AI information middle tasks. Patrick Schloesser/LinkedIn
The company additionally sought to counter criticisms surrounding water consumption.
According to Amazon, most of its North American information facilities don’t use water for cooling on a day by day foundation as a result of outdoors air supplies enough cooling for a lot of the yr. The company says it depends on water-based cooling solely about 10% of the time throughout the Americas.
The company additionally stated it’s more and more turning to reclaimed wastewater relatively than ingesting water provides.
Amazon says it presently operates 24 services that use 100% reclaimed water and has contracts in place for 130 extra websites globally.
Amazon has pledged to develop into “water positive” by 2030, which means it could return more water to communities than its information facilities devour. The company says it’s already 53% of the best way towards reaching that purpose.
The Post has sought remark from Amazon Employees for Climate Justice.
