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Comment on [RANT] Why is so much coverage of "AI" devoted to this belief that we've never had automation before (and that management even really wants it)?

Megaman_EXE@beehaw.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

Amazon just laid off 14,000 workers, and they’re claiming they can do their jobs with AI.

They’re already making AI commercials for TV and AI images for advertising, and there was a post here about AI music that hit the top 100 played on Spotify or something. Now, how cost-effective and efficient these all are? I have no idea.

I think there’s both overhype and reality. I think it’s a bit of both. Companies want people to believe AI is the way forward. But I also think part of this is smoke and mirrors. I actually don’t know how much of it is truth and until we start hearing more first-hand accounts, I feel like it’s very up in the air.

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tal@lemmy.today ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Though to be fair, Amazon’s scale is very large, so it’s worth it to spend a lot on automation. They’ve done a lot with robots before. 14k isn’t as many as it might sound, at their scale.

kagis

nytimes.com/…/inside-amazons-plans-to-replace-wor…

Amazon’s U.S. work force has more than tripled since 2018 to almost 1.2 million. But Amazon’s automation team expects the company can avoid hiring more than 160,000 people in the United States it would otherwise need by 2027. That would save about 30 cents on each item that Amazon picks, packs and delivers to customers.

Executives told Amazon’s board last year that they hoped robotic automation would allow the company to continue to avoid adding to its U.S. work force in the coming years, even though they expect to sell twice as many products by 2033. That would translate to more than 600,000 people whom Amazon didn’t need to hire.

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- hendrik@palaver.p3x.de ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  I think the entire origin story of Amazon and why they outcompeted other bookstores, online- and mail-order companies was automation and their more streamlined processes. Afaik they’ve made sure from early on to have that chain of automation go end to end and that’s been their huge advantage.
  
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HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Amazon, like a lot of other tech companies, has also been cutting product lines as increased interest rates has put a cost to money and a push to profitability.

That said, there is likely some use to AI, even if it is error prone.

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noddy@beehaw.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Even if AI successfully replaces workers, it is doomed to fail. Because if everyone is replaced by AI, who is going to pay for the products/services from the companies anymore? It’s all about being the first one to replace their workers with AI, for short term profit until society collapse.

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