Amazon Offers Peek at New Human Jobs in an AI Bot World
The tech industry generally holds two views about the future role of human workers in a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence. One is that most jobs will be handled by bots while a few roles remain untouched. The other is that bots will take over repetitive and physically demanding tasks, while humans take on new roles created by the evolving technology landscape.
The second view has more historical precedent. According to the World Economic Forum, 92 million roles are expected to be displaced by current technological trends, but 170 million new roles could be created in their place.
For workers without the resources or interest to pursue advanced degrees in fields like artificial intelligence and machine learning, the future may look different. This includes many currently in unskilled labor roles such as warehouse positions.
On Wednesday, Amazon provided an example of how this transition might unfold when it announced progress on a new robot called Vulcan, which can perform tasks requiring a sense of touch.
Vulcan is designed to help reduce strain on human workers by handling physically challenging tasks. According to CEO Andy Jassy, Vulcan allows employees to focus on higher-skill roles such as robotics maintenance, while the robot assists in picking items from high and low warehouse shelves.
Amazon explained that humans will still be responsible for retrieving items from mid-level shelves or those that Vulcan cannot yet grasp. It also announced that a small number of workers are being trained as robot technicians as the company continues to integrate automation into its warehouse operations.
In a blog post, Amazon said that robots now play a role in completing 75 percent of customer orders and have led to the creation of hundreds of new job categories, including robotic floor monitors and onsite reliability maintenance engineers. The company also noted that it offers a retraining program for workers to gain these skills.
While Amazon did not claim a one-to-one replacement of warehouse workers with robot overseers, it acknowledged that the scale of retraining is limited and that not every employee will pursue a path in robotics.
The inclusion of retraining information in the Vulcan announcement is notable because it offers a clearer picture of how automation may shift job roles in environments like warehouses.
There are also examples of automation initiatives that have not scaled widely. Amazon once attempted to expand its Amazon Go just walk out technology to other retailers but faced limited interest. The technology was later revealed to have relied on human workers in India to review video footage, and Amazon eventually reduced its own use of the system. Today, such technologies remain rare in most real-world retail settings.
While robots are advancing quickly, they are still largely concentrated in companies with significant resources, such as Amazon, or in specific industries like automotive manufacturing. Many sectors, including retail, restaurants, and transportation, continue to rely heavily on human labor, and that may remain the case for some time.