Amazon now has a million robots working in its warehouses, guided by new DeepFleet AI tech

Amazon has announced that it now has a million robots working behind the scenes in its retail empire, and a new AI model to help make those bots a lot smarter - which will ultimately mean faster deliveries.

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In a press release that Tom's Hardware picked up, Amazon made the revelation that its millionth robot just went live in a fulfillment center in Japan.

The bigger story here, though, is that Amazon is introducing a new generative AI model to make its robots smarter.

It's called DeepFleet, and the idea is that it is the equivalent of an AI-powered navigation system, helping to manage the movement of the robots in warehouses so that they have more optimal pathing collectively, making time savings therein.

The press release states:

"This AI technology (DeepFleet) will coordinate the movement of robots across our fulfillment network, improving the travel time of our robotic fleet by 10% and enabling us to deliver packages to customers faster and at lower costs."

The end goal, then, is speedier fulfillment of deliveries, and Amazon notes that the AI model will, of course, learn over time, and get better at the task of honing the optimal paths for Amazon's robotic fleet.

The obvious downside for humans is that robots are getting jobs that people could have. Indeed, Tom's Hardware points out that according to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Amazon is close to having more bots than human staff.

Naturally, Amazon is aware of this perception, and observes that its army of bots can take over more menial tasks, leaving humans to be employed in more skilled roles. Amazon informs us:

"Over 700,000 employees have been upskilled through training programs that prepare (Amazon's) workforce for the future."