Soon, there will be more robots than people working in Amazon’s warehouses.
The massive retailer has long been automating jobs that were formerly done by people.
As a consequence, according to the company’s own data, it now has more than one million robots in its workplaces.
This new record is very close to surpassing the number of human workers at its facilities.
Amazon’s huge warehouses are now staffed with extensive plucking ‘robots’ with long metallic arms that can pick up and move packages.
Additional robots assist with sorting and putting goods into packaging.
One of the newest robots, called Vulcan, even has an in-built sense of touch which helps it to distinguish between different items on shelves, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Amazon’s latest move is to connect the robots to its order-fulfilment systems – meaning the machines can work together and with humans to complete jobs – according to the report.
‘They’re one step closer to that realization of the full integration of robotics,’ robot analyst Rueben Scriven told the Journal.
Presently, about 75 per cent of Amazon’s deliveries are helped by a robot at some point on their journey.
Amazon claims this has been one of the main factors behind their improved productivity.
It also helps solve issues such as high staff turnover at its fulfilment centres, the retail giant said.
Additionally, it has relieved present employees of some tedious and laborious duties like heavy lifting.
‘I thought I was going to be doing heavy lifting, I thought I was going to be walking like crazy,’ Amazon employee Neisha Cruz told the Journal.
Cruz was trained to supervise the new robotic systems after working for five years as an item picker at an Amazon warehouse in Windsor, Connecticut.
Cruz can now work behind a computer instead of on her feet and makes more than twice as much money as she did when she first started.
However, the robots are also replacing jobs and delaying hiring at the company which presently utilises 1.56 million people, mainly in warehouses.
It comes after Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy recently revealed that the increased implementation of AI means the company will slash the size of its workforce in the coming years.
‘As we roll out more Generative AI and agents, it should change the way our work is done,’ Jassy wrote in a memo to staff last month.
‘It’s hard to know exactly where this nets out over time, but in the next few years, we expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce,’ he explained.
And Amazon is not alone.
Last month Microsoft also said is planning to cut thousands of jobs as it ramps up investments in AI.
The cuts, which will hit sales roles in particular, are part of a broader effort to streamline the company’s workforce, according to Bloomberg.
The layoffs are expected to be announced early next month, following the end of the tech giant’s fiscal year, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
In June Procter & Gamble, which makes diapers, laundry detergent, and other household items, also revealed it would cut 7,000 jobs, or about 15 per cent of non-manufacturing roles.
Concern over how AI will affect the labour economy is rising among Americans.
The tech is continuing to upend the jobs market with white collar entry-level jobs vanishing quickly and layoffs in tech, finance and consulting gathering pace.
Automation is increasing at a rapid pace. Some might see this as a good thing but if people don’t have a job, how are they going to pay for their goods? No jobs, no money!
It seems that ‘Terminator’ wasn’t just a movie, it was a documentary for the future.
Life has become depressing. You would go out and the shops and stores were heaving with people, now you go out and most of the shops and stores have closed down, it’s all extremely sad. Where has everyone gone? No wonder there are so many people who are unemployed.
We were forewarned years ago about this and now our jobs are in jeopardy. People would now be better off training in technical training on robot training and maintenance, that way we stay ahead of the curve.
Listen and understand. Robots are here – they can’t be bargained with, and they can’t be reasoned with. They don’t feel pity, remorse, or fear, and it won’t stop until you are unemployed!
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 