In what could be called one of the biggest modern-day internal protests at a tech firm, over 1,000 Amazon employees have sent an open letter to the company to CEO Andy Jassy and his team against the rapid push to deploy artificial intelligence.

In the impactful letter, the employees accused amazon of developing AI at a warp speed, which damages the democracy, their jobs and the earth as a whole.

“We, the undersigned Amazon employees, have serious concerns about this aggressive rollout during the global rise of authoritarianism and our most important years to reverse the climate crisis. We believe that the all-costs-justified, warp-speed approach to AI development will do staggering damage to democracy, to our jobs, and to the earth,” the open letter signed by1,039 Amazon employee read.

It comes a month after Amazon announced mass layoff plans as it increases dependence on AI.

Employees including engineers, product managers and warehouse associates, as well as from companies including Microsoft, Google, Meta, Apple, Uber and Salesforce have signed the letter.

The employees have made a range of demands from Amazon over its impact on the workplace and the environment. They have accused the company of casting aside its climate goals to build an AI-first company.

While Amazon committed net zero carbon emissions by 2040, workers allege that its annual emissions have grown roughly 35% since 2019. They said that the AI race is “widening this gap”.

Amazon has plans to spend $150 billion building new data centres for AI.

“Amazon is forcing us to use AI while investing in a future where it’s easier to discard us,” the workers further alleged.

Citing Andy Jassy’s plans to use more AI tools and agents, they said that the company is forcing them to shorten their output timelines, mandating them to use AI in wasteful cases and not making enough investment in career advancement.

The letter further demands Amazon to ensure its AI-powered products and services do not enable “violence, surveillance and mass deportation”.

“All of this is daunting, but none of it is inevitable. A better future is still very much within reach, but it requires us to get real about the costs of AI and the guardrails we need.”

They said that Amazon must implement a plan that — “1) powering all data centers with 100% additional, local renewable energy, 24/7, 2) ending custom AI solutions for oil & gas companies to drill more oil faster, and 3) publishing a detailed, science-backed glidepath for how it will meet its climate commitments.”

The letter further emphasised the need for ethical AI working groups of non-managers across the company

“We want the promised gains from AI to give everyone more freedom to play and rest, to spend time with family and friends, to be moved by nature, to create, to feel safe being who we are,” it said.