Replacing employees with robots is no longer a distant idea—it's a rapidly expanding reality. Around the world, companies across various sectors, such as newspapers and technology giants like Microsoft, are replacing workers with artificial intelligence software and automated agents. In the logistics sector, the scenario is even more striking: Chinese department store companies and even the US-based Amazon have already announced plans to replace up to 600,000 employees with robots.
Amazon is reportedly moving toward automation plans that will allow the company to avoid hiring more than half a million workers in the US. Citing interviews and internal strategy documents, The New York Times reports that Amazon expects its robots to replace more than 600,000 jobs it would otherwise have to hire in the United States by 2033, despite estimating that it will sell about twice as many products during that period. The documents reportedly show that Amazon's robotics team is working to automate 75% of all company operations and expects to eliminate 160,000 roles in the U.S. that would otherwise be necessary by 2027. This would save about 30 cents on each item Amazon stores and delivers to customers, with automation efforts expected to generate $12.6 billion in savings for the company between 2025 and 2027.
The report comes at a time of growing anxiety about the impact automation and AI could have on jobs. The Times points out that Amazon is a major influence in the e-commerce sector, and wherever it goes, other players like Walmart and UPS, the first and third largest employers in the U.S., are likely to follow suit.
Source: Gizmodo
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