能識別“摸魚藝術家”，還知道誰想跳槽，這是什麼老闆？
“人工智能會取代很多工作”這句話你或許已經聽到耳朵起繭了。但“人工智能會成爲你的上司”或許還是個新鮮事兒。《福布斯》雜誌描述的場景，你可能根本就不覺得陌生。
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.
你太沉迷於社交媒體而忘記了時間，衝進家庭辦公室快速登錄工作，希望沒有人會注意到你遲到。
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，你馬上收到上司的信息：“你上班遲到了17秒！你的績效將會受到影響！”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釘釘打卡，卻因爲擁擠的電梯信號不好而沒打上不是很相似嗎？
工作早就被技術包圍了。近日，亞馬遜公司就發佈了數款人工智能產品，以輔助工廠提高效率。
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.
亞馬遜網絡服務（AWS）宣佈了五項新的機器學習服務，包括Amazon Monitron等。它們將幫助工業和製造業客戶在其生產過程中嵌入智能，以提升運營效率、改善質量控制、增強安保與工作場所安全。
不過，提升效率的同時，犧牲的可能是部分員工的工作。
Verge 早前就報道了亞馬遜公司是如何用AI監控員工效率並作出裁員優化決定的。
調查發現亞馬遜的倉儲部門裁員率很高，每年僅因爲“生產效率”的原因，就要裁掉將近10%的員工。鑑於亞馬遜在北美擁有12.5萬名倉儲員工，也就是說，有成千上萬的人可能因爲搬快遞不夠快而被解僱。
Verge記者Josh採訪的一位前員工就是其中一員，他稱因爲這份工作而落下傷病。
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，按一個按鈕，按監視器指示，放在一個隔區裏，再按另一個按鈕，如此往復。
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.
工作幾個月後，他感到背部灼痛。有位主管時不時告訴他擡包裹時要多彎曲膝蓋。傑克照做了，結果他的效率下降了，另一個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？如果我走得再快一點，會心臟病發作，然後倒在地上。”後來，他的背完全支撐不了了。他被診斷出有兩個椎間盤受損，自那以後都得忍受行動不便。
背後這套催人的監工系統會監控員工能否準時完成生產指標，還會自動計算員工的未工作時間（上廁所、打水等），並擇機發出警告。
Amazon’s system tracks the rates of each individual associate’s productivity, and automatically generates any warnings or terminations regarding quality or productivity.
亞馬遜的系統會跟蹤記錄每個員工的生產效率，並自動生成關於質量或生產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.
批評人士說，這些倉儲分揀中心的工作人員面臨着艱苦的工作條件：工人們被迫“提高效率”，有些人每小時要打包數百箱貨物，如果行動不夠快，就會失去工作。亞馬遜著名評論家斯塔西·米切爾說：“總有人能立刻接替你的工作”。
AI監工當然不是亞馬遜一家獨有，很多其他公司也用上了AI績效監工。
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，人工智能上司會監控每個客服代表的表現，並提供即時反饋。如果客服代表語速太快，人工智能就會發送一個速度表圖標。如果客服代表語氣不夠篤定，人工智能就會顯示一個心形圖標。
At Marriott, they’re using Amadeus’s HotSOS Housekeeping system which is a robot directing the housekeeping staff on which rooms to clean.
萬豪酒店使用的是Amadeus的HotSOS客房管理系統，這個系統會指導客房服務員打掃哪些房間。
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.
人工智能甚至會檢查程序員的碼代碼速度來管理程序員，如果程序員工作太慢，就會被扣錢。
IBM公司甚至能讓AI及時發現有離職意向的員工，並及時處理。
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人力資源部最近開發了一個預測性減員計劃，計劃裏使用的人工智能能以95%的準確率預測哪些員工將要辭職，並建議管理者應該採取哪些行動來留住他們。
成爲了管理者的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.
人工智能工具現在也開始接管一些日常的管理任務——管理者主要做的是識別潛力、建立團隊、分配任務、衡量績效並提供反饋。
記者Josh Dzieza認爲，AI和僱員的矛盾在於，AI把人當做了機器——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.
在兩通電話之間短暫休息會兒，完成任務後在咖啡機旁待會兒。
工作之餘喝杯咖啡喘口氣等等這些在AI眼裏，都是可以被優化的部分，但僱員們肯定不這麼認爲。
但對於僱員來說，在算法看來引起效率低下的習慣，其實是他們休息和自主權的最後一畝自留地，隨着這些小休息和小自由被優化，他們的工作將會強度更大、更緊張、更危險。
亞馬遜公司爲自己的辯護自然也沒有得到公衆的理解。
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.
爲了迴應質疑，亞馬遜繼續鼓吹爲公司工作的好處，比方說時薪和育兒假等員工福利政策。但很明顯，那些達不到效率標準的工人已經不可能得到這些工作福利了。
