tech
Founder of China's Amazon wants his 700,000 blue-collar workers to be 'white-collarized' in time for AI
JD.com founder Richard Liu said robots will take over manual delivery work, but humans will be needed to maintain and troubleshoot them.
TL;DR
- JD.com founder Richard Liu plans to retrain 700,000 blue-collar delivery workers for office jobs.
- The retraining is a response to robots taking over manual delivery tasks.
- New roles for workers will include repairing and maintaining robots.
- JD.com has partnered with 120 schools across China for this retraining initiative.
- Liu advocates for international protocols for AI and robot adoption to ensure workers' rights.
- Automation and AI are driving similar shifts and layoffs in e-commerce globally.
- Robot deliveries, including drones, are already common in China and being explored by other companies worldwide.