November 29, 2025 – Over 1,000 Amazon employees have jointly issued an anonymous open letter, raising serious concerns about the company’s accelerated approach to artificial intelligence (AI) development and deployment. The letter has garnered support from more than 2,400 workers across tech giants like Meta, Google, Apple, and Microsoft, indicating that worries about AI risks are spreading throughout the entire industry.
Employees from various positions, including engineers, product managers, and warehouse staff, have signed the letter. The initiative was organized by members of the “Amazon Employees for Climate Justice” group. One of the drafters stated that the employees took this step due to the numerous issues they face while using AI tools at work and concerns over the environmental impact of the company’s expanding data centers. They aim to promote a more responsible way of developing and implementing AI.
A senior software engineer with over a decade of service at Amazon explained that he signed the letter because management has continuously raised productivity targets and project requirements under the pretext of AI, leading to an overall acceleration of the work pace.
The open letter outlines several demands. Firstly, it calls for a complete transition of data centers to clean energy sources. Secondly, it insists that AI products should not be used for violence, surveillance, or large-scale evictions. Thirdly, it proposes the establishment of a working group composed of ordinary employees to discuss whether AI should be used in various business operations and whether it should be employed for layoffs or hiring freezes. Lastly, it seeks ways to minimize the environmental impact caused by AI.
The letter also accuses Amazon of abandoning its climate commitments. The company is investing heavily in building new data centers to expand its AI computing capacity, but these facilities consume a massive amount of energy. Amazon plans to invest 150billionoverthenext15yearsandhasrecentlyannouncedtheconstructionofdatacentersworthover18 billion in Indiana and Mississippi. The letter claims that the company’s emissions have increased by about 35% since 2019 and expresses concerns that the new data centers will force local areas to keep coal-fired power plants running or even build new gas-fired ones.
An Amazon user researcher pointed out that “AI” has become an excuse to weaken employee power, concentrate resources, and make high-stakes bets on energy-intensive chips, rather than a direction aimed at solving climate problems.
Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser denied these allegations, emphasizing that Amazon is the world’s largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy and is investing in nuclear power and new small modular reactor (SMR) technologies to achieve its goal of net-zero emissions by 2040.
In the workplace, employees are feeling pressure from above to use AI tools for coding, writing copy, or completing daily tasks, with those who refuse being seen as lagging behind. One engineer revealed that his manager even informed the team that they had to double their workload due to the introduction of AI tools. However, the reality is that there are fewer staff members and more tasks, and AI tools cannot truly fill the gap.
Some employees have also experienced rework issues caused by AI-generated code. A senior engineer even had to rewrite an entire project that was “ruined” by AI.
The employees do not oppose AI itself. What they are worried about is that the company is using AI to strengthen surveillance, increase work pace, reduce manpower, and put greater pressure on community resources without sufficient discussion. As a long-term employee said, the purpose of this open letter is to let other colleagues know that many people are under the same pressure and that there is not just one possible future direction.
