Robots will not ‘steal’ jobs, says senior Amazon executive

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Ever since AI became the talk of tech town, there have been murmurs of fear and discontent about jobs being ‘killed’ by the evolution of technology. A senior executive at Amazon says that it is a “myth” that robots and tech steal jobs. According to a report by CNBC, Stefano La Rovere, director of global robotics, mechatronics, and sustainable packaging at Amazon, argued on the contrary. Rather than replacing jobs, La Rovere said that technology like robotics and AI help enhance people’s roles.

Technology, according to La Rovere helps in creation of new job categories. “It is a myth that technology and robots take our jobs,” La Rovere said in an interview with CNBC.

The report also mentioned that since the introduction of new technologies, Amazon has added more than 50,000 jobs at its fulfilment centres across Europe.

La Rovere cited certain example of how robots and technology have helped Amazon employees. “By reducing walking distance between assignments, by taking away repetitive motions, or [by] helping them to lift heavy weights,” La Rovere said on the role of technology helping employees at Amazon.

He also said that technology has helped Amazon employees learn new skills, new competencies and capabilities. “All this allows them to progress towards their career objectives,” he added.

While Amazon and La Rovere might argue that robots will not steal jobs, there have been reports arguing otherwise. In November 2023, Goldman Sachs predicted that over 300 million jobs will be lost or heavily impacted due to the rise of AI. According to Goldman Sachs, the key functions that may face severe impact because of AI and rise of technology are legal, sales, design, office admin support, architecture and engineering, sales, business and financial operations among others.

Also read: Amazon’s 'Just Walk Out' tech was actually powered by low-paid Indian workers: report

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