Humans, who needs ’em?
Certainly not the grocery store of the future, an almost entirely robot-driven concept Amazon is set to launch early next year.
The online retailer will test “the world’s most advanced shopping technology” at a grocery store in Seattle, which will be void of lines, checkouts, and registers.
Shoppers can simply breeze through the store, pick up items at their leisure, and are billed electronically upon leaving. An app called Amazon Go will identify when shoppers are in the store and track when items are placed in their bag or cart. If a customer places the item back on the shelf, it will be removed from their bill.
While this is a great development for misanthropes, it certainly doesn’t bode well for anyone employed by a grocery store. It’s no wonder some experts believe automation could cost Canada almost half of its jobs in the next 10-15 years.
Amazon Go eliminates the need for cashiers. There are 3.4 million of them in America. https://t.co/GwTvptSjMj
— Christopher Mims™ (@mims) December 5, 2016
While human beings will be employed to stock shelves at Amazon Go stores, that duty can very easily be replaced by robots in the near future as well. Current technology is already performing similar tasks – scanning shelves for items and preparing them for shipping – in Amazon warehouses. Not to mention, the future of metal cart production is directly threatened by Amazon’s digital carts.
Check it out:
Look out for a Black Mirror episode on the matter coming soon.
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