Did you hear the bit that they did about Amazon on Morning Edition<\/i>?<\/p>\n
It was all about how Amazon’s AI was ushering in some sort of shoppper’s utopia, while studiously ignoring the awful record of the firm on the labor and the environment<\/a>.<\/p>\n If they throw their lot in with Amazon because of its sponsorship money, they don’t need yours.<\/p>\n Force the choice:<\/p>\n There are dozens of reports detailing how Amazon\u2019s shipping policies negatively effects both the environment<\/a> and workers<\/a>, but one wouldn\u2019t have any idea either was a concern after listening to NPR\u2019s sexed-up report (Morning Edition, 11\/21\/18<\/a>), \u201cOptimized Prime: How AI and Anticipation Power Amazon\u2019s 1-Hour Deliveries.\u201d <\/p>\n The report, detailing the \u201cArtificial Intelligence\u201d behind Amazon\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n Indeed, the words \u201clabor,\u201d \u201cworker\u201d or \u201cemployee\u201d 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\u2019s marketing department wrote and produced a segment on their AI technology for NPR, it\u2019s difficult to see how it would have been any different. Host Rachel Martin and correspondent Alina Selyukh all but literally exclaim \u201cgee whiz\u201d:<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u2026\u2026\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n What economists? What does \u201clatest chapter of industrialization\u201d even mean? NPR, using Amazon\u2019s spokespeople and paraphrasing a nebulous cohort of \u201ceconomists,\u201d recasts \u201ccriticism,\u201d such that it is, as a generic, sanitized critique against an industry trend presumably out of Amazon\u2018s control, rather than directing criticism at Amazon themselves\u2014a employer notorious for worker abuses<\/a> ranging from wage theft, Orwellian working conditions, intimidation, retaliation and union-busting. <\/p>\n