"Amazon, the shipping and delivery juggernaut, is hoping to replace more than half a million future jobs with robots, according to a New York Times report on Tuesday. The company's vast warehouse workforce - with its algorithmic management tactics, its reliable wages and its surges of seasonal hiring - has become a gear of the modern economy. Now, in the name of efficiency and with the aid of AI robots, scores of those roles may soon no longer exist."
"The Times' story relies on interviews and internal documents, some of which reportedly said that Amazon's robotics team hopes to automate 75% of the company's operations. Automation at the company, the Times wrote, could let Amazon "avoid hiring more than 160,000 people in the United States it would otherwise need by 2027," and hundreds of thousands more after that, even if the company's sales volume soars."
Amazon aims to introduce robotics and AI to its warehouse operations, targeting automation of a substantial share of future roles. The company’s warehouse workforce currently supports steady wages, seasonal hiring surges, and algorithmic management practices. Automation ambitions reportedly include plans to automate up to 75% of operations, which could allow avoidance of more than 160,000 U.S. hires by 2027 and many additional reductions thereafter. California could face significant effects given its large Amazon presence, numerous fulfillment centers and recent holiday hiring. An Amazon spokesperson characterized leaked documents as incomplete and not representative of overall hiring plans.
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