Today's episode of The Daily, from the New York Times, described the
conditions under which warehouse workers are employed.
Miriam
NPR's Report on Amazon Is Essentially an Infomercial
NPR: Optimized Prime: How AI And Anticipation Power Amazon's 1-Hour
Deliveries
"Morning Edition's" segment (11/21/18) on NPR-underwriter Amazon is sourced
entirely to Amazon.
There are dozens of reports detailing how Amazon's shipping policies
negatively effects both the environment and workers, but one wouldn't have
any idea either was a concern after listening to NPR's sexed-up report
(Morning Edition, 11/21/18), "Optimized Prime: How AI and Anticipation Power
Amazon's 1-Hour Deliveries."
The report, detailing the "Artificial Intelligence" behind Amazon's delivery
systems, relies entirely on interviews with Amazon flacks. The only people
NPR speaks to are Brad Porter, the head of robotics for Amazon operations;
Jenny Freshwater, director of software development; and Amazon VP Cem Sibay.
No outside parties were sought for comment, let alone anyone remotely
adversarial, such as labor organizers or environmental activists.
Indeed, the words "labor," "worker" or "employee" are nowhere to be found in
the six-minute report: Christmas packages simply deliver themselves with the
help of brilliant Amazon execs and this mysterious AI technology. If
Amazon's marketing department wrote and produced a segment on their AI
technology for NPR, it's difficult to see how it would have been any
different. Host Rachel Martin and correspondent Alina Selyukh all but
literally exclaim "gee whiz":
."When Amazon introduced two-day shipping, it was a huge shift in retail
thinking."
."By the time someone clicks buy on Amazon, usually [Amazon's director of
software development] had long predicted it."
."This is key to how Amazon cuts down delivery time."
."But it was Amazon Prime that got Americans hooked on two-day shipping. Now
it's a race for a one-hour delivery with Amazon Prime Now. Few companies can
afford that, and few rely quite so much on AI [as Amazon] to control costs
while growing."
."AI is woven through it all. In the first mile, when you order, AI analyzes
your search and tells you upfront how fast your item could ship.. It's AI
keeping track of all items in almost a million square feet of this
warehouse. AI constantly arranges those shelves so that things you're about
to buy are ready to go."
The only thing that comes vaguely close to criticism is when Selyukh points
out that robotics are "controversial work in retail, where layoffs are
rampant," then goes on to insist:
"
Economists are divided on how much exactly AI will eliminate or create jobs,
especially for lower-income Americans. In its defense, Amazonoften points to
how much it's actually been hiring. To [head of robotics Brad] Porter, we
are in the latest chapter of industrialization.
What economists? What does "latest chapter of industrialization" even mean?
NPR, using Amazon's spokespeople and paraphrasing a nebulous cohort of
"economists," recasts "criticism," such that it is, as a generic, sanitized
critique against an industry trend presumably out of Amazon's control,
rather than directing criticism at Amazon themselves-a employer notorious
for worker abuses ranging from wage theft, Orwellian working conditions,
intimidation, retaliation and union-busting.
None of these widely documented concerns-all of which make cheap two-day
shipping possible-were mentioned at all. Nor were the equally
well-documented environmental downsides to two-day shipping, a convenience
that, despite NPR's "oh wow, how do they do that" excitement, creates tons
of gratuitous, harmful carbon emissions.
NPR did have a throwaway line about how Amazon was a "sponsor" of NPR, but
it's unclear how pointing out that the company you're writing a press
release for helped pay for the press release makes it any better. At one
point, NPR's Selyukh came so very close to making a connection between
cheap, fast delivery and grinding workers down to the nub, but instead,
again, threw in another AI promo:
"
Sibay and other Amazon executives push this illusion that fast delivery is
magic. Like, the code name for Prime Now was Houdini. But the reality is
[it's] forecasting on steroids, and a meticulous shaving off of minutes and
seconds on the journey of the package.
Selyukh is correct that two-day delivery isn't "magic," but the "reality"
behind Amazon's fast delivery time and its record-breaking $1 trillion
valuation, and CEO Jeff Bezos' record-breaking $150 billion personal
fortune, isn't just "forecasting" or smarter robotics or sexier tech (though
that's likely a small part of it), it's what's it's always been: a faceless
network of millions of workers-abused, neglected, overworked and
underpaid-and environmental externalities the public will be mopping up for
centuries. It would be good if a radio station, ostensibly set up to serve
that public, could mention these inconvenient realities.
Adam Johnson / FAIR
Adam H. Johnson