Amazon is investigating three employees who spoke out against building more AI data centers
Key takeaways
- They were testifying at a Seattle city council meeting.
- Tada Images/Shutterstock Five members of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (AECJ) previously testified at Seattle city council meetings about AI data centers.
- The engineers spoke at Seattle city council hearings over whether to put a pause on AI data center buildouts.
They were testifying at a Seattle city council meeting.
Tada Images/Shutterstock Five members of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (AECJ) previously testified at Seattle city council meetings about AI data centers. Now, three of them are apparently under investigation by the company. The AECJ has filed a civil rights complaint against the company on behalf of the three engineers, according to CNBC and Geek Wire, accusing Amazon of violating a Seattle law that prohibits companies from discriminating against employees based on their political ideology, race, religion and age.
The engineers spoke at Seattle city council hearings over whether to put a pause on AI data center buildouts. They reportedly urged the council to add renewable energy requirements and labor protections related to data centers to the city's regulations. In addition, they called for the government to put a stop to the industry's plans "to build out as much compute capacity as they can, as fast as they can, before regulations can catch up." The Seattle city council ultimately voted in favor of passing the year-long moratorium on AI data centers for a year.