Amazon claims the headline is not that robots are taking jobs as it unveils new robots to cut costs

in One jobAmazon highlighted the Blue Jay robot, which it calls “an extra set of hands that assists employees with tasks that involve reaching and lifting,” and its agent AI system Project Eluna, which “acts like an additional teammate, helping to reduce that cognitive load” while improving sorting to reduce bottlenecks.

Blue Jay can transport 75 percent of the types of items that Amazon stocks, and is ultimately intended to be a “core technology” that powers same-day delivery locations. The company says it developed Blue Jay in just over a year based on artificial intelligence, digital twins and data from robots already in use, creating a system that “coordinates multiple robotic arms to perform many tasks simultaneously, collapsing what were three separate robotic stations into one streamlined workspace that can select, store and consolidate in one place.”

“The real deal isn’t about robots…it’s about people — and the future of work we’re building together,” Ty Brady, chief technology officer at Amazon Robotics, says in the company’s post. The blog post also reiterates the spokesperson’s response to the Times report, saying that “no company has created more jobs in the United States over the past decade than Amazon,” and touting plans to fill 250,000 jobs for the holiday season.

CEO Andy Jassy June letter to employees About the effect of efficiency It is a little more clear. He wrote about generative AI: “We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are done today, and more people doing other types of jobs. It is hard to know exactly where this will end up over time, but in the next few years, we expect this to reduce the overall company workforce as we get efficiency gains from using AI more widely across the company.” “

the times The report suggests a similar plan for robotics and automation, noting Jassy’s push to reduce e-commerce costs and showing examples of how its warehouse repair operations could create facilities that process more items with fewer employees who will increasingly focus on taking care of the robots.