“人工智能會(huì)取代很多工作”這句話(huà)你或許已經(jīng)聽(tīng)到耳朵起繭了。但“人工智能會(huì)成為你的上司”或許還是個(gè)新鮮事兒?！陡２妓埂冯s志描述的場(chǎng)景，你可能根本就不覺(jué)得陌生。

You got a little too caught up in social media and lost track of time. You dash over to your home office to quickly log in to work hoping no one will notice your tardiness.
你太沉迷于社交媒體而忘記了時(shí)間，沖進(jìn)家庭辦公室快速登錄工作，希望沒(méi)有人會(huì)注意到你遲到。

Alas, as soon as you connect, you get an immediate message from your boss: “You’re 17 seconds late to work! Your performance score will be impacted.” Ugh! It’s tough working for an AI boss.
唉，一上線(xiàn)，你馬上收到上司的信息：“你上班遲到了17秒！你的績(jī)效將會(huì)受到影響！”給人工智能打工真難啊。

這跟你每天早上飛快跑到公司樓下打開(kāi)釘釘打卡，卻因?yàn)閾頂D的電梯信號(hào)不好而沒(méi)打上不是很相似嗎？

工作早就被技術(shù)包圍了。近日，亞馬遜公司就發(fā)布了數(shù)款人工智能產(chǎn)品，以輔助工廠(chǎng)提高效率。

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced five new machine learning services, including Amazon Monitron, etc. They will help industrial and manufacturing customers embed intelligence in their production processes in order to improve operational efficiency, quality control, security, and workplace safety.
亞馬遜網(wǎng)絡(luò)服務(wù)（AWS）宣布了五項(xiàng)新的機(jī)器學(xué)習(xí)服務(wù)，包括Amazon Monitron等。它們將幫助工業(yè)和制造業(yè)客戶(hù)在其生產(chǎn)過(guò)程中嵌入智能，以提升運(yùn)營(yíng)效率、改善質(zhì)量控制、增強(qiáng)安保與工作場(chǎng)所安全。

不過(guò)，提升效率的同時(shí)，犧牲的可能是部分員工的工作。

Verge 早前就報(bào)道了亞馬遜公司是如何用AI監(jiān)控員工效率并作出裁員優(yōu)化決定的。

調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)亞馬遜的倉(cāng)儲(chǔ)部門(mén)裁員率很高，每年僅因?yàn)椤吧a(chǎn)效率”的原因，就要裁掉將近10%的員工。鑒于亞馬遜在北美擁有12.5萬(wàn)名倉(cāng)儲(chǔ)員工，也就是說(shuō)，有成千上萬(wàn)的人可能因?yàn)榘峥爝f不夠快而被解雇。

Verge記者Josh采訪(fǎng)的一位前員工就是其中一員，他稱(chēng)因?yàn)檫@份工作而落下傷病。

His job was to take an item off a conveyor belt, press a button, place the item in whatever cubby a monitor told him to, press another button, and repeat.
他的工作就是從傳送帶上取下一件物品，按一個(gè)按鈕，按監(jiān)視器指示，放在一個(gè)隔區(qū)里，再按另一個(gè)按鈕，如此往復(fù)。

After several months, he felt a burning in his back. A supervisor sometimes told him to bend his knees more when lifting. When Jake did this his rate dropped, and another supervisor would tell him to speed up.
工作幾個(gè)月后，他感到背部灼痛。有位主管時(shí)不時(shí)告訴他抬包裹時(shí)要多彎曲膝蓋。杰克照做了，結(jié)果他的效率下降了，另一個(gè)主管又告訴他要加快速度搬。

“You’ve got to be kidding me. Go faster?” he recalled saying. “If I go faster, I’m going to have a heart attack and fall on the floor.” Finally, his back gave out completely. He was diagnosed with two damaged discs and had to go on disability.
他回憶道：“你搞笑呢？再快一點(diǎn)？如果我走得再快一點(diǎn)，會(huì)心臟病發(fā)作，然后倒在地上?！焙髞?lái)，他的背完全支撐不了了。他被診斷出有兩個(gè)椎間盤(pán)受損，自那以后都得忍受行動(dòng)不便。

背后這套催人的監(jiān)工系統(tǒng)會(huì)監(jiān)控員工能否準(zhǔn)時(shí)完成生產(chǎn)指標(biāo)，還會(huì)自動(dòng)計(jì)算員工的未工作時(shí)間（上廁所、打水等），并擇機(jī)發(fā)出警告。

Amazon’s system tracks the rates of each individual associate’s productivity, and automatically generates any warnings or terminations regarding quality or productivity.
亞馬遜的系統(tǒng)會(huì)跟蹤記錄每個(gè)員工的生產(chǎn)效率，并自動(dòng)生成關(guān)于質(zhì)量或生產(chǎn)率的任何警告或裁員決定。

Critics say those fulfillment center workers face strenuous conditions: workers are pressed to “make rate,” with some packing hundreds of boxes per hour, and losing their job if they don’t move fast enough. “You’ve always got somebody right behind you who’s ready to take your job,” says Stacy Mitchell, a prominent Amazon critic.
批評(píng)人士說(shuō)，這些倉(cāng)儲(chǔ)分揀中心的工作人員面臨著艱苦的工作條件：工人們被迫“提高效率”，有些人每小時(shí)要打包數(shù)百箱貨物，如果行動(dòng)不夠快，就會(huì)失去工作。亞馬遜著名評(píng)論家斯塔西·米切爾說(shuō)：“總有人能立刻接替你的工作”。

AI監(jiān)工當(dāng)然不是亞馬遜一家獨(dú)有，很多其他公司也用上了AI績(jī)效監(jiān)工。

At MetLife’s call center, the AI boss monitors the performance of each customer service representative and provides instant feedback. If the customer service agent is talking too fast, the AI sends an icon of a speedometer. If the agent is not emphatic enough, the AI sends a heart icon.
在MetLife的客服呼叫中心，人工智能上司會(huì)監(jiān)控每個(gè)客服代表的表現(xiàn)，并提供即時(shí)反饋。如果客服代表語(yǔ)速太快，人工智能就會(huì)發(fā)送一個(gè)速度表圖標(biāo)。如果客服代表語(yǔ)氣不夠篤定，人工智能就會(huì)顯示一個(gè)心形圖標(biāo)。

At Marriott, they’re using Amadeus’s HotSOS Housekeeping system which is a robot directing the housekeeping staff on which rooms to clean.
萬(wàn)豪酒店使用的是Amadeus的HotSOS客房管理系統(tǒng)，這個(gè)系統(tǒng)會(huì)指導(dǎo)客房服務(wù)員打掃哪些房間。

AI is even managing software developers by reviewing the rate at which they are producing code and docking pay if the developer is working too slowly.
人工智能甚至?xí)z查程序員的碼代碼速度來(lái)管理程序員，如果程序員工作太慢，就會(huì)被扣錢(qián)。

IBM公司甚至能讓AI及時(shí)發(fā)現(xiàn)有離職意向的員工，并及時(shí)處理。

IBM HR recently developed a predictive attrition program that uses artificial intelligence to predict with 95 per cent accuracy which workers are about to quit their jobs and suggest actions managers should take to engage them.
IBM人力資源部最近開(kāi)發(fā)了一個(gè)預(yù)測(cè)性減員計(jì)劃，計(jì)劃里使用的人工智能能以95%的準(zhǔn)確率預(yù)測(cè)哪些員工將要辭職，并建議管理者應(yīng)該采取哪些行動(dòng)來(lái)留住他們。

成為了管理者的AI，自然也就取代起了部分HR的工作。

AI tools are now starting to take over some routine management tasks as well —— what managers do mostly is identify potential, build teams, assign tasks, measure performance and provide feedback.
人工智能工具現(xiàn)在也開(kāi)始接管一些日常的管理任務(wù)——管理者主要做的是識(shí)別潛力、建立團(tuán)隊(duì)、分配任務(wù)、衡量績(jī)效并提供反饋。

記者Josh Dzieza認(rèn)為，AI和雇員的矛盾在于，AI把人當(dāng)做了機(jī)器——人的有些需求是不必要的。

A moment’s downtime between calls, a habit of lingering at the coffee machine after finishing a task.
在兩通電話(huà)之間短暫休息會(huì)兒，完成任務(wù)后在咖啡機(jī)旁待會(huì)兒。

工作之余喝杯咖啡喘口氣等等這些在A(yíng)I眼里，都是可以被優(yōu)化的部分，但雇員們肯定不這么認(rèn)為。

  
但對(duì)于雇員來(lái)說(shuō)，在算法看來(lái)引起效率低下的習(xí)慣，其實(shí)是他們休息和自主權(quán)的最后一畝自留地，隨著這些小休息和小自由被優(yōu)化，他們的工作將會(huì)強(qiáng)度更大、更緊張、更危險(xiǎn)。

亞馬遜公司為自己的辯護(hù)自然也沒(méi)有得到公眾的理解。

In response, Amazon has continued to tout the benefits of working for the company, pointing to their hourly pay rates and policies like parental leave. But it is clear that some workers, failing to meet productivity standards, won’t reap the benefits of a job at all.
為了回應(yīng)質(zhì)疑，亞馬遜繼續(xù)鼓吹為公司工作的好處，比方說(shuō)時(shí)薪和育兒假等員工福利政策。但很明顯，那些達(dá)不到效率標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的工人已經(jīng)不可能得到這些工作福利了。

Notes

dash [d??] v 猛沖
conveyor [k?n?ve??r] n 運(yùn)送者；傳送者
disc [d?sk] n 圓盤(pán)；圓片；椎間盤(pán)
dock [d?k] v 扣除（部分工資等）
strenuous [?strenju?s] adj 費(fèi)力的；繁重的；艱苦的
attrition [??tr??n] n 自然減員
downtime [?da?nta?m] n 停工；休息
tout [ta?t] adj 標(biāo)榜；吹捧；吹噓
reap [ri?p] v 取得（成果）；收獲

編輯：李雪晴
Source: The Verge, Business Focus, Amazon Web Services