Famed stock picker Cathie Wood predicted that Amazon will have more robot employees than human employees by 2030.
“Amazon is adding about a thousand robots a day,” the Ark Invest CEO told CNBC Wednesday.
“If you compare the number of robots Amazon has to the number of employees, it’s about a third. And we believe that by the year 2030, Amazon can have more robots than employees.”
Wood argued the world is “at the dawn of the robotics age,” with innovations such as artificial intelligence and battery technology also contributing to the developments. She expects that innovations will transform and expand opportunities for Amazon and other companies and industries utilizing the new technologies.
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Amazon did not return Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
In addition, Wood outlined the cost-benefit of switching from human employees to robotic technology.
“If you look at the cost declines, which drive all of our models … for every cumulative doubling in the number of robots produced, the cost declines are in the 50-60% range,” she said.
Amazon has been utilizing and expanding its robotics through various projects with over 500,000 robots in use as of mid-2022. These robots include the Hercules, Robin, Pegasus and Sparrow which help with a variety of functions in Amazon facilities.
The Sparrow robot, launched in November 2022, “will be able to help employees working in fulfillment centers by picking individual items and storing them in inventory before the products are packaged and sent to customers,” according to an About Amazon blog post.
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While the company has been expanding its robotics, they have also come under scrutiny for massive layoffs, affecting a large portion of the tech sector.
Earlier this month, Amazon announced it would be laying off roughly 18,000 workers, mainly from the retail division and PXT (People Experience and Technology), which deals with human resources and other matters.
“Amazon has weathered uncertain and difficult economies in the past, and we will continue to do so,” Jassy said in a Jan. 4 blog post. “These changes will help us pursue our long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure.”
The expansion of robotics threatens existing jobs for human employees, but Amazon has tried to promote new jobs offered by innovative technology.
“The design and deployment of robotics and technology across our operations have created over 700 new categories of jobs that now exist within the company—all because of the technology we’ve introduced into our operations,” a November 2022 blog post said.
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FOX Business’ Ronn Blitzer contributed to this report.