Amazon’s Automation Ambitions: A Shift towards Robotics
Amazon.com Inc. is poised to overhaul its workforce in the United States, with plans to supplant over half a million jobs with robotic solutions, as reported by the New York Times.
This ambitious strategy, derived from internal documents and executive interviews, suggests that America’s second-largest employer is on the precipice of a significant transition in workplace dynamics.
Amazon aims to replace or circumvent 600,000 jobs in the US by 2027. (AFP)
Since 2018, Amazon’s workforce in the US has more than tripled to a staggering 1.2 million employees. The automation division of the company contends it can forgo hiring upwards of 160,000 additional staff by 2027, leading to a reduction of approximately 30 cents on every item Amazon processes, from picking to packing and delivery.
In total, the retailer seeks to replace and/or circumvent about 600,000 jobs by 2027. Executives conveyed to Amazon’s board last year their intention for robotic automation to facilitate a freeze in workforce expansion, even as they anticipate doubling product sales by 2033.
Amazon is embarking on a quest to design warehouses with minimal human intervention. Internal documents reveal a target for the robotics team to automate an astounding 75% of operations.
Notably, discussions surrounding automation eschew conventional terminology—rather than using terms like “automation” or “artificial intelligence,” the lexicon favors phrases such as “advanced technology.” Even the term “robot” is substituted with “cobot,” suggesting an envisioned collaboration with human labor.
Daron Acemoglu, a Nobel Prize-winning economist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, remarked to the New York Times, “No other entity possesses the compulsion that Amazon has to discover methods of automation.”
Should these initiatives come to fruition, it is likely that “one of the largest employers in the United States may yield more job losses than job opportunities.”
In response to the insights divulged by the New York Times, Amazon stated that the documents presented were not comprehensive and indicated a narrow view of the company’s overall recruitment strategy.
Kelly Nantel, an Amazon spokesperson, emphasized the company’s intention to onboard 250,000 employees in anticipation of the upcoming holiday season.
Current Workforce Reductions
The dialogue surrounding diminishing warehouse positions coincides with layoffs occurring within corporate offices.
- In May, the company terminated 100 employees from its devices and services sector, which encompasses products such as Alexa devices, Echo speakers, and Ring doorbells.
- In January, layoffs in the communications department were executed to “accelerate progress, enhance accountability, fortify company culture, and strengthen customer connectivity.”
- Amazon Web Services, which recently experienced a significant outage impacting global internet accessibility, has also executed “role eliminations across select teams.”
- Within the human resources domain, home to a global workforce exceeding 10,000, the company reportedly contemplates a reduction of up to 15% of its staff.
Amazon’s CEO, Andy Jassy, has articulated a vision in which an increase in the deployment of AI agents and automation will necessitate “fewer personnel executing certain tasks currently performed.” He anticipates that this transition will result in a scaled-down corporate workforce as efficiency is enhanced.
While Amazon has yet to disclose precise figures for potential layoffs in 2025, it has documented a decline of 27,000 jobs since the onset of 2022.
Source link: Hindustantimes.com.
