During a recent Senate inquiry hearing on artificial intelligence (AI), global e-commerce giant Amazon denied using AI to track and monitor its employees in Australia. This statement comes in the wake of a €32 million (US$35 million) fine imposed on Amazon by the French data protection authority CNIL in December 2023 for excessive employee monitoring.

CNIL found that Amazon’s system, which measured employee performance indicators such as quality, productivity, and periods of inactivity, was in violation of privacy laws. The authority ruled that the system’s ability to accurately measure work interruptions could potentially require employees to justify every break or interruption, which was deemed excessive. Additionally, CNIL found Amazon’s method of measuring scanning speed to be excessive, with scanning activities being counted to within seconds.

Amazon’s representative, Mr. Levey, stated during the Senate inquiry that the company disagreed with CNIL’s conclusions and considered its warehouse management systems to be industry standard. He emphasized that these systems were used to efficiently move products through the fulfillment network and ensure a safe working environment for employees, denying any relationship between AI systems and performance assessment.

When questioned about AI surveillance to prevent union activities in Australia, Levey stated that Amazon did not engage in such practices. He clarified that the company’s Flex service, which allows individuals to become delivery drivers separate from the full and part-time workforce, did not involve tracking their activity. Levey mentioned the installation of a safety system in vehicles, designed to keep drivers safe, which had been implemented in the United States for several years. He assured that the system had privacy measures in place and only activated during safety incidents, with no recording of personal information or live feed.