Technology
Amazon uses 'distance workers' from AI to report to warehouse workers if they get too close
Amazon has launched a new AI-tool it it would enable employees to obey the social distance guidelines, currently being sued for allegedly refusing to shield workers from COVID-19.
The distance wizard of the business incorporates a TV screen, depth sensors and AI-enhanced camera to monitor and provide real-time feedback to employees.
When workers approach each other less than 6 feet, their feet are red on the TV, indicating employees should move to a safe distance. The devices are autonomous and can be quickly deployed and moved when needed.
Amazon compares the machine to radar speed sensors that provide drivers with immediate driving feedback. A few of the company's assistants were evaluated in a forum, said Brad Porter, vice president of Amazon Robotics and plans to introduce hundreds of others in the next few weeks to new locations.
Importantly, it also states that the technology will be opened up to enable other companies to replicate and deploy these devices quickly in a range of locations.
Amazon is not the only company with this method of machine learning. Since the coronavirus epidemic started, a significant number of companies offering AI video analysis and surveillance have developed similar socially-distant instruments.
Some startups have also turned towards physical solutions, such as armbands and stickers that use Bluetooth signals to feel closeness and then to bear or remind workers to violate the guidelines on social distance.
While these solutions are needed to return staff to busy facilities such as warehouses, many privacy experts are worried about implementing these solutions to normalize higher rates of surveillance.
Many of the solutions would generate comprehensive information about the movement of workers all day long and allow managers to hijack employees for productivity reasons. Also, if they want to keep their work, employees will not be tracked in such a way.
The participation of Amazon in such technology raises suspicions because the company is often criticized for the grueling conditions of work in its facilities. In 2018, it patented a wristband that would track workers' movements in real time and not only dedicate them to which task they should do next.
Definition of the company as a "standalone unit," which only needs electricity, implies that it does not store any information about the movement of employees, but that we have approached the company to clarify which information may, if any, be retained.
