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Comment by cmiles74 | Hacker News Reader

Isn’t that the job? I’m not even sure what “understand AI” even means, from where I sit, it maybe means “add AI to everything” and that doesn’t seem that complicated.

I’m not here to defend the people in Amazon corporate, I’m just not convinced it’s okay for a big rich corporation to hire all these people and then fire them on a whim. It’s not like Amazon can’t afford it.

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And, to be realistic, "add AI to everything" is a sure sign that the person does _not_ understand AI.

They might not understand ai, but they do understand how to keep their job and maybe get a promotion, while causing massive problems for everyone else to deal with.

Tell that to the people cashing big checks at Microsoft and Google. ;-)

> I’m just not convinced it’s okay for a big rich corporation to hire all these people and then fire them on a whim

Amazon doesn't owe anybody a job. Likewise, if you buy groceries from Safeway, you can switch to buying from Walmart anytime.

> It’s not like Amazon can’t afford it.

I'm sure there are a lot of things people don't buy even though they can afford it.

Amazon got where it was by ruthlessness. What may not be OK is in US you need a job to get healthcare. But other than that people earning that much can't expect job for life type situation like a firefighter or teacher. In US almost everyone is a defacto contractor by virtue of at will employment.

> I’m just not convinced it’s okay for a big rich corporation to hire all these people and then fire them on a whim.

isn't this the American dream?

become Bezos, then exploit every last cent out of your suppliers, employees and customers

no you dont understand, the whole career ladder at amazon is clogged with people at the company 10+ years, that have been in their role 5+ years. its a big game of dont get fired, and collect pay checks as long as possible

> its a big game of dont get fired, and collect pay checks as long as possible

That pretty much sums it up for 90% of the world's employment...

Yes that’s how jobs work; you go to work, do your job, try not to get fired, and get paid for the work you do.

Is that supposed to be a bad thing?

These are the people Amazon hired, with the qualifications for which Amazon was hiring. If Amazon has some nebulous “career ladder” problem, I believe the fault can be laid at the feet of Amazon’s hiring practices.

Deciding one day to simply fire them all, I guess for doing what they were hired to do, is not okay.

> Deciding one day to simply fire them all, I guess for doing what they were hired to do, is not okay.

Business conditions change constantly.

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