It was predicted by Cathie Wood, the Ark Invest CEO, that Amazon could use more robots than humans by the year 2030.
Wood, a portfolio manager, makes an investment decision based on companies she believes will create disruptive innovations. She said in a recent interview with CNBC that Amazon is increasing automation to a great extent.
“Amazon is adding about 1,000 robots a day. 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 said.
She also noted that other firms will also adopt automation because of cost advantages. Woods believes that we are just at the beginning of the “dawn of the robotics age.”
Ark Invest CEO said that for every cumulative doubling in the number of robots produced in a company, the cost decreases are in the 50% to 60% range.
Wood has faced some criticism over the last few years because her Ark Innovation ETF is still 70% below its peak nearly two years ago.
At the end of 2021, Amazon employed approximately 1.6 million people. The company also experienced excessive turnover rates in its warehouses and fulfillment centers across the country.
They predicted that they might run out of individuals to hire in America by the end of next year, according to a leaked document obtained by Vox.
For the short term, they are relying on pay increases to deal with the hiring crisis. Toward the end of 2022, they unveiled nationwide pay increases.
Other companies that use unskilled labor have also moved to automate their operations as worker shortages continue.
McDonald’s recently created a test restaurant in Texas in which customers use kiosks and a mobile app to get their orders from a conveyor belt. They do not interact with any staff.
