● Amazon AI Surveillance, Usage-Based Pay And Promotions
Amazon, which laid off 30,000 people, now decides your performance based on ‘AI usage’?
So, today I’ve brought you a latest big tech trend that is a bit chilling but something we absolutely need to know.It’s not just at the level of “using AI is good,” but rather that companies are now monitoring how much you use AI, and deciding promotions and salaries based on that.Specifically, I’ve organized exactly how Amazon is ‘tracking’ employees and why employees are feeling fear about this.Beyond simple news delivery, I will point out the company’s real intentions hidden behind this phenomenon and the core points we need to prepare for, so please stay focused until the end.
1. Amazon’s Shocking Performance Evaluation System: ‘Clarity’
Amazon, the world’s largest e-commerce company, has started tracking its employees’ AI tool usage status.They introduced an internal system called ‘Clarity’, and it is very specific.They are looking in real-time at which AI tools employees use during work and how often they log in daily.
Especially, the core point of surveillance is how much they utilize Amazon’s self-developed AI coding agent, ‘Kiro’.It’s not just a recommendation; the problem is that this data is directly reflected in Performance Reviews, which are crucial for promotions and salary increases.The company says it is “for innovation,” but from the employees’ perspective, they can’t shake the feeling that their every move is being watched.
2. Ruthless Evaluation Criteria Required by Job Group
Amazon demands very detailed AI utilization results depending on the job group and rank.For practical departments like the Supply Chain Optimization Technology (SCOT) team, they must prove exactly what innovation they achieved through AI.They demand numerical explanations of how much operational efficiency increased or how much cost was saved.
The pressure on managers is even worse.They are asked to describe “methods to achieve more results with fewer resources,” which is practically telling them to fill the void with AI in a situation where the workforce has been reduced.Despite large-scale layoffs last year and early this year, they must prove instances where they maintained innovation and created synergy to be eligible for promotion.Ultimately, how well they achieved work automation has become the yardstick for proving a manager’s ability.
3. The Real Reason Employees Are Angry and Anxious
Employees aren’t just complaining because learning a new tool is annoying.The biggest reason is tied to the recent restructuring issue of ‘30,000 layoffs’.There is an underlying fear that the more I teach AI and apply it to my work, the more that AI will eventually replace me.Because collecting my AI usage data will likely be used as data to judge “oh, this task can be automated.”
Another complaint is the ‘compulsion of tools’.Developers want to use high-performance external AI models like Anthropic’s ‘Claude Code’.However, Amazon is enforcing the use of its internal tool, ‘Kiro’.Having to forcibly use a tool with lower performance and even being evaluated on it inevitably makes employees unhappy.
4. Other Big Tech Companies Are the Same (Industry Trend)
This isn’t just Amazon’s problem; it is a huge flow spreading throughout Big Tech companies.Meta has already declared that it will reflect code generation metrics using AI tools in performance evaluations and bonus payments.Microsoft (MS) is also actively encouraging employees’ AI usage and collecting data.Consulting firms like Accenture are also collecting AI login data and making AI utilization a mandatory condition for executive promotions.Now, AI utilization ability in companies is becoming not a choice, but an essential skill for survival.
5. Reading Between the Lines: Core Insights Not Told Elsewhere
There is a core point here that we need to pay attention to, which the news doesn’t explicitly state.Companies enforcing internal AI tool usage isn’t simply to test their own products.It is because of ‘Data Sovereignty’ and ‘Assetization of Work Processes’.If an employee uses external AI (ChatGPT or Claude), that data and know-how leak externally or remain only as an individual’s skill.However, if they make them use internal AI tools, the way the employee works and the code accumulate intact in the company’s database.
Coldly speaking, this is the ultimate king of Digital Transformation and a ‘process of transplanting employee know-how into AI’.Right now, they treat people who use AI well preferentially, but in the long run, when that AI becomes sophisticated, a time may come when even that person is no longer needed.Ultimately, we are standing at a crossroads of becoming a “manager who wields AI as a tool” or a “worker who provides training data to AI and disappears.”
< Summary >
- Introduction of Surveillance System: Amazon is tracking the frequency and type of employees’ AI usage with the ‘Clarity’ system and reflecting it in personnel evaluations.
- Specific Evaluation Criteria: Working-level staff must prove efficiency increase cases, and managers must prove methods of creating results amidst workforce reduction situations.
- Internal Backlash: After laying off 30,000 people, anxiety is prevalent among employees that AI utilization is ultimately helping ‘automation that will replace me’.
- Tool Enforcement Issue: Developers are highly dissatisfied due to the enforced use of the company tool (Kiro) instead of high-performance external AI.
- Industry Expansion: Major companies like Meta, MS, and Accenture are also trending towards introducing AI utilization as a key indicator for promotions and bonuses.
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*Source: https://www.donga.com/news/Inter/article/all/20260220/133387285/1
