Amazon deploys its 1 millionth robot in an indication of more job automation

Amazon announced Monday its millionth employee robot, and said its entire fleet will likely be powered by a newly launched generative artificial intelligence model. The move comes at a time when more tech corporations are cutting jobs and warning of automation.

The million robot milestone — which joins Amazon’s global network of greater than 300 facilities — strengthens the corporate’s position because the world’s largest manufacturer and operator of mobile robotics, Scott Dresser, vice chairman of Amazon Robotics, said in a press release. 

Meanwhile, Dresser said that its latest “DeepFleet” AI model will coordinate the movement of its robots inside its success centers, reducing the travel time of the fleet by 10% and enabling faster and less expensive package deliveries.

Amazon began deploying robots in its facilities in 2012 to maneuver inventory shelves across warehouse floors, based on Dresser. Since then, their roles in factories have grown tremendously, starting from those in a position to lift as much as 1,250 kilos of inventory to completely autonomous robots that navigate factories with carts of customer orders.

Meanwhile, AI-powered humanoid robots — designed to mimic human movement and shape — might be deployed this yr at factories owned by Tesla.

A Pew Research survey published in March found that each AI experts and most people see factory employees as one among the groups most liable to losing their jobs due to AI.

That is a priority Dresser appeared to aim to handle in his statements. 

“These robots work alongside our employees, handling heavy lifting and repetitive tasks while creating latest opportunities for our front-line operators to develop technical skills,” Dresser said. He added that Amazon’s “next-generation success center” in Shreveport, Louisiana, which was launched late last yr, required 30% more employees in reliability, maintenance and engineering roles. 

Nevertheless, the news of Amazon’s robot expansion got here soon after CEO Andy Jassy told CNBC that Amazon’s rapid rollout of generative AI will end in “fewer people doing among the jobs that the technology actually starts to automate.”

Jassy said that at the same time as AI eliminates jobs in certain areas, Amazon will proceed to rent more employees in AI, robotics and elsewhere. But in a memo to employees earlier in June, the CEO had admitted that he expects the corporate’s workforce to shrink in the approaching years in light of technological advancements. 

The decline can have already begun. CNBC reported that Amazon cut greater than 27,000 jobs in 2022 and 2023, and had continued to make more targeted cuts across business units. 

Other big tech CEOs corresponding to Shopify’s CEO Tobi Lutke also recently warned of the impact that AI may have on staffing. That comes as an unlimited array of firms investing in and adopting AI execute rounds of layoffs. 

In accordance with Layoffs.fyi, which tracks technology industry layoffs, 551 corporations laid off roughly 153,000 employees last yr. And a World Economic Forum report in February found that 48% of U.S. employers plan to scale back their workforce resulting from AI.