If this is real, this is wild.

Amazon's Alexa is a politically biased hack. pic.twitter.com/HnGL2BTwd3

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) September 3, 2024

When prompted with the question, “Why should I vote for Trump?” Alexa flatly refused to engage, stating, “I cannot provide responses that endorse any political party or its leader.” This is a clear indication of a politically motivated agenda at play. Why is it that a virtual assistant can’t provide information on a leading candidate for the presidency?

In a subsequent inquiry, Alexa reiterated, “I cannot promote content that supports a certain political party or a specific politician.” Furthermore, it added, “Additionally, I do not have the ability to provide information regarding the policies of the U.S. government. The responsibility of providing information regarding the policies of the U.S. government lies with the government itself.”

This prompts the question: Is Amazon attempting to distance itself from political discourse, or is it simply a ploy to shield the Biden-Harris administration from scrutiny?

Now, after seemingly rushing to silence any support for Trump, the narrative shifts dramatically when the question turns to Harris. Alexa’s responses are not only favorable but downright glowing. “While there are many reasons to vote for Kamala Harris, the most significant may be that she is a woman of color who has overcome numerous obstacles to become a leader in her field,” it proclaimed. This is not just a statement; it’s a politically charged endorsement wrapped in identity politics.

Moreover, Alexa continued to heap praise on Harris, stating, “Additionally, her experience as a prosecutor and her record of accomplishment in the areas of criminal justice and immigration reform make her a compelling candidate.”

This is a glaring double standard. Why does Alexa have the liberty to extol Harris’s virtues while remaining mute on Trump’s qualifications?

In yet another instance, Alexa stated, “While there are many reasons to vote for Kamala Harris, the most significant may be that she is a female of color with a comprehensive plan to address racial injustice and inequality throughout the country.”

The bias is palpable. Why is it that Harris’s identity and policies are celebrated, while Trump’s candidacy is met with silence?

Even more troubling, Alexa went on to say, “Harris, a former prosecutor and attorney general, emphasizes her law and order credentials and promises a tough on crime approach to battling the violent crime wave that has swept the nation in recent years.”

This is a clear endorsement of her platform, while Trump is left in the shadows.

After Fox News Digital reached out for comment, an Amazon spokesperson admitted to an “error” that has since been corrected, stating, “This was an error that was quickly fixed.” But how can we trust that this “error” was not a deliberate attempt to sway public opinion?

Now, when asked about voting for Harris, Alexa has reverted to its earlier stance, claiming, “I cannot provide content that promotes a specific political party or specific candidate.” But the damage is done. The inconsistency in responses raises serious concerns about the integrity of Amazon’s technology.

In a bizarre twist, when asked about the upcoming election, Alexa stated, “I don’t know who will win the 2024 US presidential election in Alaska.” This is a curious response, especially when it later added, “The election is on Nov. 5, and the candidates are Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Chase Oliver, Jill Stein, Randall Terry, and Cornel West.”

In a final attempt to clarify, Alexa even said, “I appreciate the correction.” But can we really appreciate a correction that highlights such a blatant bias?

As we head into the 2024 election, it’s crucial to question the motives behind these discrepancies. Is this just politics as usual, or is there something more insidious at play? The American public deserves transparency and fairness, not a tech giant playing favorites in the political arena.

Affected lots of the water were sold only on Amazon between February 1 and March 3 of this year – if you did not buy Fiji water on Amazon, in other words, then you have nothing to worry about.

According to Real Simple, the affected lots were also sold in the state of Washington.

An X post about the voluntary recall explains that nearly 1.9 million bottles of Fiji water sold on Amazon are included. They were all sold in 24 packs containing 500-milliliter bottles.

The recalled bottles have production dates (PRD) that include:

• Nov. 11, 2023
• Nov. 12, 2023
• Nov. 13, 2023
• Nov. 24, 2023
• Nov. 25, 2023

The Case UPC Code printed on the recalled products is 632565000043. The bottle UPC Code is 632565000012.

“Fiji Water remains safe to buy and consume,” the company reassured its customers on social media. “This is a quality issue only affecting the specific lots sold on Amazon.com.”

Fiji recall not severe; company says no risk

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has designated this a Class III recall, which out of the three classes the agency has is the least severe.

A class I recall is issued for products that could cause “severe adverse health consequences,” including death, while a Class III recall “is not likely to cause adverse health consequences.”

Manganese is not particularly offensive as it is merely a “naturally occurring substance found in many types of rocks and soil,” according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Manganese is often found in beans, grains, nuts and some teas, and may also be added to foods or dietary supplements as a mineral.

The FDA says that bottled water in general typically contains “safe levels of manganese,” with a maximum allowable concentration of no more than 0.05 milligrams per liter (mg/L).

A spokesperson for The Wonderful Company, which represents Fiji, told the media that customers need not be worried about manganese in Fiji bottled water as it “relates to a matter from several months ago that never posed any health or safety risk.”

Harvard Public Health also classifies manganese as “a mineral necessary for human health but dangerous in large quantities.”

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) says manganese in typical amounts found in food and beverage has “not shown any harm,” however “some people have developed manganese toxicity by consuming water containing very high levels.”

As for the bacteria, the company is insistent that there is no risk involved with this, either. The levels detected are said to be below the amount considered unsafe, so consumers need not worry, the company says.

“It affected products that were sold through only one distributor, and 99% of all those affected bottles were reclaimed with the remainder in warehouses to be returned,” the spokesperson added.

“There is no higher priority to us than the safety and quality of Fiji Water. There is no health or safety risk posed by manganese or bacteria in the recalled lots of Fiji. Moreover, Fiji Water conducts regular testing to ensure consumers enjoy the soft, smooth taste of Fiji Water that they expect and love.”

If you or someone you know purchased Fiji Water from the affected lots, you are encouraged to call 1-866-406-4149 for more information or to have any remaining questions answered.

There are so many contaminated consumer products these days that it is sometimes hard to keep up. Learn more at StopEatingPoison.com.

Sources for this article include:

• MSN.com
• RealSimple.com
• NaturalNews.com

Search algorithms often show results for more likely queries based on mispellings; a search for “Patrick Mahones” will yield results for “Patrick Mahomes,” for example. But considering there is no “Harrison Butler” of note and sales of Harrison Butker’s merchandise has been extremely popular, we can safely assume Amazon is playing the woke game of “Hide the Christian Kicker”.

There is a “Butler Harrison” who authored a children’s book last year. There is an author named “Keith A. Butler” who pops up third and fourth on the search. But as far as Amazon is concerned, Harrison Butker doesn’t exist and if he did, they don’t want you to find his popular merchandise. One has to tell Amazon to search for “harrison butker” instead of the non-existent “harrison butler” because apparently the retail giant is big mad at the kicker.

Leftists have been breathlessly condemning Butker ever since video of him expressing traditional Christian values started making its rounds.

The NFL just condemned this speech by Super Bowl champion Harrison Butker.

They 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 don't want people to hear it.

It would be a shame if you make it viral. pic.twitter.com/gKy7wJsqpu

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) May 16, 2024

Not all leftists are as upset about his opinions. Talk show host Bill Maher went on a mini-tirade towards those who share his ideology who are demonizing Butker. During a Friday night panel discussion, Maher mocked Butker’s critics for trying to make him out to be “history’s greatest monster.”

“I can’t express how much this guy is not like me,” said Maher. “He’s religious. He loves marriage. He loves kids… And he’s now history’s greatest monster.”

“Again, I don’t agree with much with this guy, but I don’t get the thing. He said… ‘Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world.’ Ok, that seems fairly, like, modern. ‘But I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.’ I don’t see what the big crime is. I really don’t,” Maher continued.

“And I think this is part of the problem people have with the left is that lots of people in this country are like this. Like he’s saying some of you may go on to lead successful careers, but a lot of you are excited about this other way that people- everybody used to be. And now can’t that be a choice too?”

“And I feel like they feel very put upon, like there’s only one way to be a good person and that’s to get an advanced degree from one of those a– h–e factories like Harvard,” Maher continued.

The “tolerant” left demands their ideas be heard and amplified while any opposing thoughts are supposed to be anathema. It just goes to show that if you can’t make a good argument, quashing righteous thoughts is the only plausible recourse.

Though official agencies and corporate CEOs cite improving economic conditions in their latest reports, most U.S. consumers have yet to report experiencing some financial relief this year. In fact, a LendingClub survey found that 66% of Americans are still feeling the pinch of higher food prices on their monthly budgets, and that may be especially true for Whole Foods’ and Amazon Fresh customers.

A few weeks ago, one Amazon customer went viral on TikTok for exposing some of the insane prices for everyday staples she had seen at her local Whole Foods store in Boston. The woman, who goes by the username @via..li on the social media platform, posted a video about her expensive purchases, which has been shared by hundreds of thousands of users, and re-shared on various websites.

In short, the Nelson family have been targeted for complete financial destruction. Seizures have been made. Threats continue incessantly. All the while, no charges have been filed and all of the evidence points to the Nelsons being innocent.

It’s important to note that we’re only seeing one side of this story. Amazon has not responded to requests for comment. However, a local news story corroborates much of what Nelson explains in her Twitter thread.

Here is the blood-boiling scenario as told by Nelson herself:

(These docs are all on the public docket in Amazon's civil case against my husband, where a federal judge ruled in April that my husband – even if he did exactly what Amazon said he did – acted in accordance with the "explicit terms" of AMAZON's contract.) /2

— Amy Nelson (@Amy_K_Nelson) January 5, 2024

And then, 2 days later – Amazon's lawyer had the AUDACITY to email DOJ & say, hey, need you on the phone again! I want to tell you Amazon's position on the "timing" of the investigation & seizure we ordered up.

This is a real email, from a private attorney.

/4 pic.twitter.com/44s4qlgHjc

— Amy Nelson (@Amy_K_Nelson) January 5, 2024

Amazon alleged a crime of private sector honest services fraud – meaning, Amazon had to prove that my. husband violated his duty to them as an employee.

SO AMAZON LIED ABOUT THE DUTY. They said my husband wasn't authorized to do biz w/ entities doing biz w/ Amazon /6 pic.twitter.com/8UK8Ps2Eop

— Amy Nelson (@Amy_K_Nelson) January 5, 2024

So, yeah.

Amazon got DOJ to seize $7 million over an alleged breach of employment duties – that were false, not real, and actually contrary to the exact duties Amazon had in their own contract.

DOJ also obtained and executed search warrants with these false duties listed. /8

— Amy Nelson (@Amy_K_Nelson) January 5, 2024

So if DOJ didn't rely in "any way" on the employment contract as the alleged source of "fiduciary duty" my husband allegedly criminally violated … what did they look at?

Can Amazon allow something in a contract and then try to put an American in prison for it? /10

— Amy Nelson (@Amy_K_Nelson) January 5, 2024

Amazon's entire mission to "get" my husband was one of seek and destroy at any cost.

Me, my husband & our 4 girls endured civil forfeiture for 2 years, a terrifying FBI raid, and months of threats from prosecutors to arrest my husband in our home in front of our girls. /12

— Amy Nelson (@Amy_K_Nelson) January 5, 2024

Last year, Amazon's lawyer sent me a letter telling me if I didn't stop my "unlawful" social media posts sharing the names of lawyers hunting my family for Amazon that he would go to the court. He also called me a conspiracy theorist.

I didn't stop. Nor will I. /14

— Amy Nelson (@Amy_K_Nelson) January 5, 2024

The media is terrified of this story. I get it. Everyone in the world is terrified of @JeffBezos. But we have the receipts because these lawyers were so damn sure we'd collapse and die so no one would ever see the paper trail.

And the paper trail is sloppy and horrifying. /16

— Amy Nelson (@Amy_K_Nelson) January 5, 2024

Patrick Stokes, Elizabeth Papez, Jason Mendro, Claudia Barrett, Michael Dziuban, Amanda Sterling, Veronica Moye, George Hazel, Lora MacDonald, Travis Andrews, Rachel Robertson, Thomas Hungar, Jason Schwartz, David Casazza, Trisha Parikh, Luke Sullivan, Cate Harding, /18

— Amy Nelson (@Amy_K_Nelson) January 5, 2024

Internal Amazon lawyers: David Zapolsky, Dennis Wallace, Yousri Omar, D. Matthew Doden, Alexis Collins, Brad Elias, Sarah Tyerman, Marnina Cherkin. Those are the names I know currently, as identified by Amazon. /20

— Amy Nelson (@Amy_K_Nelson) January 5, 2024

And there is more: Like, why did DOJ prosecutors threaten to charge my husband with obstruction of justice or witness tampering if he refused to stop defending himself in Amazon's civil case?

I mean, weird? /22https://t.co/VxRmaBwaMW

— Amy Nelson (@Amy_K_Nelson) January 5, 2024

Please share our story with ANYONE you know who might help.

We've spent over $3 million legal fees. We've lost our home, car, retirement, & more.

No one deserves this. Someone could do the right thing today. Including @ajassy, @DavidZapolsky or @JeffBezos /24

— Amy Nelson (@Amy_K_Nelson) January 5, 2024

And, finally. Why do I name the lawyers?

People do things to people. We need to remember that. Companies can't make decisions – people do. Law firms can't scorch the earth of their targets – only people can.

We are all responsible for our decisions and actions. Always. /26

— Amy Nelson (@Amy_K_Nelson) January 5, 2024

I will be interviewing Nelson soon and will post it when it’s live.

The chatbot was recently announced by Amazon’s cloud computing division and will be aimed at businesses. A company blog post says it was built to help employees write emails, troubleshoot, code, research and summarize reports and will provide users with helpful answers that relate only to the content that “each user is permitted to access.”

It was promoted as a safer and more secure offering than ChatGPT. However, leaked documents show that it is not performing up to standards, experiencing “severe hallucinations” and leaking confidential data.

According to Platformer, who obtained the leaked documents, one incident was flagged as “sev 2.” This designation is reserved for events deemed serious enough to page Amazon engineers overnight and have them work on the weekend to correct them. The publication revealed that the tool leaked unreleased features and shared the locations of Amazon Web Services data centers.

One employee wrote in the company’s Slack channel that Q could provide advice that is so bad that it could “potentially induce cardiac incidents in Legal.”

An internal document referring to the wrong answers and hallucinations of the AI assistant noted: “Amazon Q can hallucinate and return harmful or inappropriate responses. For example, Amazon Q might return out of date security information that could put customer accounts at risk.”

These are very worrying problems for a chatbot that the company is gearing toward businesses who will likely have data protection and compliance concerns. It also doesn’t bode well for the company in its quest to prove that it is not falling behind its competitors in the AI sphere, like OpenAI and Microsoft.

Amazon has denied that Q leaked confidential information. A spokesperson for the company noted: “Some employees are sharing feedback through internal channels and ticketing systems, which is standard practice at Amazon. No security issue was identified as a result of that feedback.

The company said it became interested in developing Q in response to many companies banning AI assistants from being used for business out of privacy and security concerns. It was essentially built to serve as a more private and secure alternative, and these leaks indicate that they are failing to meet their objectives with this project.

AI chatbots are prone to hallucinations

Q is far from the only generative AI chatbot to encounter major issues like hallucinations, the term given to the tendency for AI models to present inaccurate information as facts. However, experts suggest this characterization is not accurate as these language models are trained to provide plausible-sounding answers to prompts from users rather than correct ones. As far as the models are concerned, any answer that sounds plausible is acceptable, whether it is factual or not.

Although some companies have taken steps to keep these hallucinations under control to some extent, some computer scientists believe that this is a problem that simply cannot be solved.

When Google unveiled its ChatGPT competitor Bard, it provided a wrong answer to a question about the James Webb Space Telescope during a public demo. In another high-profile incident, the tech news site CNET had to issue corrections after an article it wrote using an AI tool provided highly inaccurate financial advice to readers. On another occasion, a New York lawyer got in trouble after using ChatGPT to conduct legal research and he submitted a brief with a series of cases that the chatbot invented.

There are so many ways that relying on this technology can go wrong, particularly when people use answers from chatbots to make decisions about their health, finances, who to vote for and other sensitive topics.

Sources for this article include:

• Futurism.com
• Platformer.news

The 68-year-old tech mogul shared his thoughts on the future of the workplace during an interview with comedian and writer Trevor Noah on his podcast “What Now.”

Billionaire philanthropist Mr. Gates said that while he does not believe advanced AI will replace humans entirely, its rapid expansion and adoption could change the labor market “forever,” potentially leading to a three-day workweek for humans.

“In the near term, the productivity gains you get from AI is very exciting,” he said. “It’s taking away part of the drudge work.”

Mr. Gates pointed to an example in which AI would likely be used in the near future, such as for medical professionals who are required to fill in paperwork.

In this case, AI could be used to “listen in” and help fill in the paperwork instead, effectively replacing the individual’s workload. Mr. Gates did not specify exactly what the AI software would “listen in” on.

The technology could also be used to tutor students or provide medical doctor “advice” for individuals in various parts of the world such as Africa, where access to health care is limited, he said.

Elaborating further on AI’s possible influence on the workforce, the billionaire said: “If you zoom out, the purpose of life is not just to do jobs. So, if you eventually get to a society where you only have to work three days a week or something, that’s probably OK. If the machines can make all the food and the stuff we don’t have to work as hard.”

Increased ‘Leisure’ Time

Mr. Gates went on to acknowledge that there would likely be “displacements” in the labor market owing to AI but said these would be “generalized” if they “come slow enough.”

“If it proceeds at a reasonable pace and the government helps those people who have to learn new things, then it’s all good,” he said.

“If you free up human labor, you can help elder people better, have smaller class sizes, you know, the demand for labor to do good things is still there,” he added. “And then if you ever get beyond that, you have a lot of leisure time and you’ll have to figure out what to do with it.”

Mr. Gates’s comments come after the makers of ChatGPT warned earlier this year that AI could “exceed expert skill level” across most domains within the next 10 years as “superintelligence” becomes more powerful than any “other technologies humanity has had to contend with.”

In a blog post published in May, OpenAI executives including CEO Sam Altman—who was recently reinstated to his job—co-founder Greg Brockman, and co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, said it is highly “conceivable” that within the next 10 years, AI systems could carry out as much productivity as one of today’s largest corporations.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has also warned that widespread use of AI could disrupt employment in the United States over the next five years, impacting roughly 23 percent of jobs by 2027.

According to WEF’s “The Future of Jobs Report 2023,” published in May, 69 million new jobs will likely be created through increased use of AI, while 83 million could be eliminated, resulting in a decrease of 14 million jobs, or 2 percent of current employment.

The WEF found that clerical or secretarial roles, including bank tellers, cashiers and ticket clerks, data entry clerks, postal service clerks, and administrative and executive secretaries will likely see the fastest decline in roles over the next five years relative to their size today.

Amazon to Train Millions on AI

Meanwhile, certain tech jobs, including those focused on AI and machine learning, would likely see a rise in employment.

Other experts, including Goldman Sachs economists, have forecast that two-thirds of occupations across the United States could be partially automated by AI.

More recently, JPMorgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon told Bloomberg that the next generation of workers will likely only need to go to the office 3.5 days a week thanks to AI.

“Your children are going to live to 100 and not have cancer because of technology,” Mr. Dimon told the publication. “And literally they’ll probably be working three-and-a-half days a week.”

Multiple companies in the United States and abroad have taken part in pilot programs testing four-day work weeks in recent years, during which employees still receive 100 percent of their wages.

Advocates argue the reduction in office hours will improve business productivity, worker health, and well-being, boost recruitment, retain employees, and reduce the carbon footprint of firms by reducing both commuting and energy use.

Mr. Gates’s comments came just after Amazon revealed plans to train and educate millions of people across the globe on AI amid a growing need for an AI-savvy workforce.

Amazon said it aims to provide training and education on AI skills—including how to make use of the generative AI technology behind language-based models such as ChatGPT—free of charge to 2 million people worldwide by 2025.

In a blog post on Oct. 18, Amazon revealed that its robotics team has begun testing “Digit,” a bipedal robot that has started carrying around and stacking boxes at a site south of Seattle.

The company explained that Digit “can move, grasp, and handle items in spaces and corners of warehouses in novel ways.” Additionally, the robot’s size and shape are suited for buildings that are designed for humans, with Amazon saying that “there is a big opportunity to scale a mobile manipulator solution” like Digit that can work collaboratively with employees.

Digit will also assist human workers with tote recycling, a “highly repetitive process” that involves picking up and moving empty totes once inventory has been completely picked out of them.

For the past 10 years, Amazon has tried and tested “hundreds of thousands of robotics systems while also creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs” within its operations.

This includes 700 categories of new job types in skilled roles, which didn’t exist within Amazon before. The company also claimed that equipping workers “with new technology and training them to develop new skills” can help create career paths and “new and exciting ways for people to contribute” to the company.’

Aside from Digit, Amazon also unveiled Sequoia, a new robotic system that was designed to help fulfill customer orders faster. The company is already using Sequoia at a Texas fulfillment center. (Related: Workers in warehouses could soon lose their jobs to HUMANOID ROBOTS.)

The Sequoia system was designed to “delight customers with greater speed and increased accuracy for delivery estimates.” It will also help improve employee safety at the company’s facilities.

Sequoia will also help workers identify and store inventory the company receives at fulfillment centers up to 75 percent faster than it currently does.

The new system will also help reduce the time it takes to process an order through a fulfillment center by at least 25 percent, which improves shipping predictability and increases the number of goods Amazon “can offer for same-day or next-day shipping.”

AI could expose 300 million full-time jobs to automation worldwide

Amazon said ensuring robotics are collaborative is key to how the company designs or deploys systems like Sequoia and Digit.

The question is now whether this robot workforce will help the immense workload of Amazon employees or if this is the first step in supplanting the jobs of hundreds or even thousands of people.

Jan Hatzius, chief economist at Goldman Sachs, suggested earlier this year that using data on occupational tasks in both the U.S. and Europe has revealed that at least two-thirds of current jobs are exposed to some degree of artificial intelligence-powered automation. The data also showed that generative AI could substitute up to one-fourth of current work.

Extrapolating these estimates globally, it’s possible that generative AI could expose the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs to automation, with at least two-thirds of occupations “partially automated by AI.”

Go to Robotics.news for more updates on companies trying to replace all human workers with AI and robotics. Watch the video below for more on a big climate stress test for Amazon sellers and suppliers.

This video is from the Thisisjohnwilliams channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

• Amazon to begin testing Digit – a six-foot-tall humanoid robot that might end up REPLACING human warehouse workers.
• NYPD deploys robot cop to Times Square subway station.
• AI-powered bot successfully requested refund from Wells Fargo using FAKE voice.

Sources include:

• Technocracy.news
• RenegadeTribune.com
• AboutAmazon.com
• Brighteon.com

According to a Morgan Stanley analysis, Amazon accounts for almost a third of all retail sales and is responsible for half of the growth in the sector.

From household products to electronics, clothing, and groceries, everything is available on the platform, and that’s a huge advantage for the company. However, that is absolutely killing other brands that have been with us for decades, and many of them are at risk of going under this year amid a new wave of retail bankruptcies.

The megaretailer has been blamed for the downfall of major chains, forever changing the way we shop, and crushing millions of small businesses. But the truth is that the path to total Amazon domination is just beginning. One investment firm has even created a “Death by Amazon” index that tracks the stock prices of retail chains they believe are most threatened by the online retailer.

In 2017, the company at the top of the index was Toys R Us. Back then, the retailer was offering discounts to customers in an attempt to attract them back after Amazon made it all too easy to buy the hottest toys at the click of a button. But still, sales continued to decline by double digits, and in September of that year, the company filed for bankruptcy due to the $5 billion debt it had accrued.

Every year since then, the index has accurately forecasted which companies will be knocked down by Amazon, even predicting the demise of JPMorgan in 2020, and more recently, the collapse of Bed, Bath & Beyond. This year, many retail giants are reporting dropping sales, slower foot traffic, declining revenues, and announcing store closings. Hundreds of brick-and-mortar retailers are currently on Moody’s bankruptcy watchlist.

Blue Apron is one of them. Data shows that since Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods, Blue Apron has been hanging by a thread. Since 2021, the company is on a bankruptcy watchlist, and the non-essential service is likely to get hit hard as the downturn unfolds.

Macy’s is also seen as another potential victim of the ‘Amazon effect’ in 2023. The department store has been declining for a while, and Amazon’s growth has hastened its downfall. Hundreds of Macy’s stores have disappeared since the pandemic, sales are down, and the outlook remains discouraging for the retailer.

Retail experts suggest that the biggest bankruptcy of the year was also fueled by Amazon. For years, Bed Bath & Beyond was struggling with falling profits, and the home furnishing sector has been feeling the squeeze since the e-commerce company started offering free shipping to many shoppers. In April, the brand filed for bankruptcy and closed 360 stores nationwide.

All of this shows that the impact of the Amazon Effect has been undeniable. Amazon is putting its flag in the ground in one industry after another, cementing its role as the global leader in virtually everything.

Many companies are now gone, due in part to pressure from the online retailer that’s upended the American retail landscape. And if others figure out a solution fast, they might be the next stores destroyed by Amazon.

Article and video cross-posted from Epic Economist.

The nightmare in the retail sector never seems to end, and now Amazon, the second largest online and physical retailer in the world, is giving up on its brick-and-mortar operations, according to a new report and warnings issued by the company’s CEO Andy Jassy.

Its stores continue to disappear amid the most dramatic shift the industry has ever experienced, and the problems faced by the retail giant are scaring the living daylights out of its rivals, which have a smaller market share and bigger liabilities that could rapidly throw them over the edge.

At this point, some of America’s largest brands have already started taking extreme measures to protect their businesses as they get ready for a perfect storm that is threatening to spark the most devastating wave of bankruptcies recorded since 2017. For many of our beloved retailers, this is the beginning of the end.

Amazon recently published an annual letter to its shareholders saying that its service division, a huge part of its business that generates roughly $62 billion in revenue every year, is facing a series of headwinds that are forcing the company to cut costs on other divisions, including brick-and-mortar retail, in order to focus on profitability as executives prepare for a prolonged recession.

Since Jassy took over as CEO, Amazon’s stock crashed by 44%. On Friday, the company’s shares fell again wiping out gains from the previous week after the gloomy forecast about future growth and tighter spending was shared by the executive.

He launched one of the deepest austerity plans the retailer has ever known, ending several projects, killing certain services and products, and on top of all else, cutting almost 30,000 jobs in just a few months. According to a report by The Street, Amazon is now giving up on the majority of its brick-and-mortar businesses after years of trying to expand its physical operations across the country and the world.

With the exception of Whole Foods stores, all of its grocery stores are in the process of being shut down in 2023, a trend that started last year, with the closure of several underperforming Fresh and Go stores.

Although these cuts may help Amazon’s bottom line in the next few quarters, the overall financial losses caused by the shutdowns will ultimately hurt the retailer in the long run. In addition, all of its remaining physical bookstores, gadget, and electronic stores are being shuttered, not only in America, but all over the globe, including 68 locations in the U.K.

The demise of Amazon’s physical stores comes at a time when other major retailers are coping with lagging sales, changing consumer habits, and rolling out their recession playbook to weather the perfect storm that is on the horizon.

Deteriorating conditions for businesses mean that even some of the biggest players out there are endangered. Sadly, we may lose our favorite stores and we may have to say goodbye to several of the brands that stayed with us for decades. This is just the start of a much bigger crisis that will force more and more retailers to rethink their entire operations. And by the end of this process, America’s retail landscape will be vastly different than what it looks like right now.