能识别“摸鱼艺术家”，还知道谁想跳槽，这是什么老板？

“人工智能会取代很多工作”这句话你或许已经听到耳朵起茧了。但“人工智能会成为你的上司”或许还是个新鲜事儿。《福布斯》杂志描述的场景，你可能根本就不觉得陌生。

Photo by George Morina from Pexels

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.
你太沉迷于社交媒体而忘记了时间，冲进家庭办公室快速登录工作，希望没有人会注意到你迟到。

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，一上线，你马上收到上司的信息：“你上班迟到了17秒！你的绩效将会受到影响！”给人工智能打工真难啊。

这跟你每天早上飞快跑到公司楼下打开钉钉打卡，却因为拥挤的电梯信号不好而没打上不是很相似吗？

工作早就被技术包围了。近日，亚马逊公司就发布了数款人工智能产品，以辅助工厂提高效率。

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.
亚马逊网络服务（AWS）宣布了五项新的机器学习服务，包括Amazon Monitron等。它们将帮助工业和制造业客户在其生产过程中嵌入智能，以提升运营效率、改善质量控制、增强安保与工作场所安全。

不过，提升效率的同时，牺牲的可能是部分员工的工作。

Verge 早前就报道了亚马逊公司是如何用AI监控员工效率并作出裁员优化决定的。

调查发现亚马逊的仓储部门裁员率很高，每年仅因为“生产效率”的原因，就要裁掉将近10%的员工。鉴于亚马逊在北美拥有12.5万名仓储员工，也就是说，有成千上万的人可能因为搬快递不够快而被解雇。

Verge记者Josh采访的一位前员工就是其中一员，他称因为这份工作而落下伤病。

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.
他的工作就是从传送带上取下一件物品，按一个按钮，按监视器指示，放在一个隔区里，再按另一个按钮，如此往复。

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.
工作几个月后，他感到背部灼痛。有位主管时不时告诉他抬包裹时要多弯曲膝盖。杰克照做了，结果他的效率下降了，另一个主管又告诉他要加快速度搬。

“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.
他回忆道：“你搞笑呢？再快一点？如果我走得再快一点，会心脏病发作，然后倒在地上。”后来，他的背完全支撑不了了。他被诊断出有两个椎间盘受损，自那以后都得忍受行动不便。

背后这套催人的监工系统会监控员工能否准时完成生产指标，还会自动计算员工的未工作时间（上厕所、打水等），并择机发出警告。

Amazon’s system tracks the rates of each individual associate’s productivity, and automatically generates any warnings or terminations regarding quality or productivity.
亚马逊的系统会跟踪记录每个员工的生产效率，并自动生成关于质量或生产率的任何警告或裁员决定。

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.
批评人士说，这些仓储分拣中心的工作人员面临着艰苦的工作条件：工人们被迫“提高效率”，有些人每小时要打包数百箱货物，如果行动不够快，就会失去工作。亚马逊著名评论家斯塔西·米切尔说：“总有人能立刻接替你的工作”。

AI监工当然不是亚马逊一家独有，很多其他公司也用上了AI绩效监工。

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，人工智能上司会监控每个客服代表的表现，并提供即时反馈。如果客服代表语速太快，人工智能就会发送一个速度表图标。如果客服代表语气不够笃定，人工智能就会显示一个心形图标。

At Marriott, they’re using Amadeus’s HotSOS Housekeeping system which is a robot directing the housekeeping staff on which rooms to clean.
万豪酒店使用的是Amadeus的HotSOS客房管理系统，这个系统会指导客房服务员打扫哪些房间。

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.
人工智能甚至会检查程序员的码代码速度来管理程序员，如果程序员工作太慢，就会被扣钱。

IBM公司甚至能让AI及时发现有离职意向的员工，并及时处理。

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人力资源部最近开发了一个预测性减员计划，计划里使用的人工智能能以95%的准确率预测哪些员工将要辞职，并建议管理者应该采取哪些行动来留住他们。

成为了管理者的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.
人工智能工具现在也开始接管一些日常的管理任务——管理者主要做的是识别潜力、建立团队、分配任务、衡量绩效并提供反馈。

记者Josh Dzieza认为，AI和雇员的矛盾在于，AI把人当做了机器——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.
在两通电话之间短暂休息会儿，完成任务后在咖啡机旁待会儿。

工作之余喝杯咖啡喘口气等等这些在AI眼里，都是可以被优化的部分，但雇员们肯定不这么认为。

  
但对于雇员来说，在算法看来引起效率低下的习惯，其实是他们休息和自主权的最后一亩自留地，随着这些小休息和小自由被优化，他们的工作将会强度更大、更紧张、更危险。

亚马逊公司为自己的辩护自然也没有得到公众的理解。

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.
为了回应质疑，亚马逊继续鼓吹为公司工作的好处，比方说时薪和育儿假等员工福利政策。但很明显，那些达不到效率标准的工人已经不可能得到这些工作福利了。

 

Notes

dash [dæʃ] v 猛冲
conveyor [kənˈveɪər] n 运送者；传送者
disc [dɪsk] n 圆盘；圆片；椎间盘
dock [dɒk] v 扣除（部分工资等）
strenuous [ˈstrenjuəs] adj 费力的；繁重的；艰苦的
attrition [əˈtrɪʃn] n 自然减员
downtime [ˈdaʊntaɪm] n 停工；休息
tout [taʊt] adj 标榜；吹捧；吹嘘
reap [riːp] v 取得（成果）；收获

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