Amazon to replace 600,000 jobs with robotics in seven years

Amazon is reportedly planning to cut as many as 600,000 human jobs over the next seven years as automation and robotics near fruition.

Amazon to replace 600,000 jobs with robotics in seven years
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Tech and Science Editor
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TL;DR: Amazon plans to automate 75% of its operations by 2033, potentially replacing 600,000 jobs with robots to save $12.6 billion and reduce shipping costs. Despite internal documents revealing this strategy, Amazon denies these claims and highlights ongoing job creation, emphasizing cautious public communication about automation.

Amazon is reportedly planning to cut as many as 600,000 human jobs over the next 7 years, which will eventually be replaced by robots.

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Internal documents obtained by The New York Times show Amazon's plans to automate approximately 75% of all its operational processes, which will result in approximately 600,000 job losses by the year 2033. For those who don't know, Amazon is one of the United States' largest companies by the number of employees it has under its banner, having tripled its workforce since 2018 to a staggering 1.2 million.

However, Amazon's board has reportedly informed management that it will no longer need to hire additional US employees in the future due to advances in automation. The internal documents reportedly revealed that Amazon projects to save as much as $12.6 billion after the 600,000 workers are replaced by automation, and it will reduce the cost to sell each product it ships by approximately 30 cents. Amazon already has more than 1 million robots working for the company, and these robots support the 1.6 million workers.

The report also states that Amazon is very particular about its communications, making sure what it says publicly can't lead to any backlash or speculation that it's planning to replace a significant portion of its workforce. For example, the company replaces words such as "automation" and "artificial intelligence" with "advanced technology" and "cobots" (robots working alongside humans) when speaking publicly.

Following the report, Amazon has refuted The New York Times' claims, with Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel telling The Verge that the documents do not reflect the company's overall strategy and that they originated from an internal Amazon team. Furthermore, Amazon told the New York Times that it hasn't told its managers not to use specific words related to robotics, while also pointing to the 250,000 new jobs it plans to create over the Christmas period.