Amazon is speeding warehouse automation to replace 600,000 jobs by 2033 and automate 75% of processes, while branding robots as advanced technologies.
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Amazon is accelerating a sweeping automation strategy and, according to The New York Times, plans over the next ten years to replace more than 600,000 jobs in the United States with robotic systems. Internal documents and company sources indicate that by 2033 Amazon expects to automate most warehouse and logistics operations, even as its sales volume is projected to double over the same period. The ambition is clear; the pace, unusually brisk for a firm of this size.
The report says that by 2027 the company aims to reduce around 160,000 positions through the deployment of robotic systems, and by the end of the decade automation could cover up to 75% of all internal processes. Analysts estimate that each automated step would save Amazon about 30 cents per item, which between 2025 and 2027 could translate into roughly $12.6 billion in savings. The math is stark, and it explains the urgency.
Inside the company, measures to soften public blowback are under discussion. Amazon intends to avoid openly using the words robots, automation, or artificial intelligence, favoring more neutral phrases such as advanced technologies. Some systems will be framed as so‑called collaborative robots, machines meant to work alongside people rather than replace them outright. The language choice signals a careful effort to reassure workers while the underlying shift remains substantial.
In response to the leak, Amazon representatives said the published figures did not reflect the full picture and should not be treated as an official plan. Even so, experts — including Nobel laureate Daron Acemoglu — warn that if the company succeeds, the largest employer in the United States could move from being a job creator to a driver of mass technological unemployment. The stakes are not just operational; they touch the social fabric that depends on these jobs.