Controversial Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has rejected concerns that artificial intelligence will take human jobs.
Discussing his new A.I. business known as Prometheus, the billionaire even claimed that artificial intelligence could create a “labor shortage in the economy”.
Bezos, who is co-leading the business, told The Wall Street Journal that the firm plans to create an “artificial general engineer” that can design and manufacture complex physical products such as a jet engine.
According to him, the company’s goal is to “empower engineers and make an invention easier and faster, so smaller teams can do much bigger things on much shorter time cycles”.
Bezos dismissed concerns regarding the impact of A.I., claiming that pessimism about the technology among young people is “the opposite of reality.”
The billionaire said that the technology will mean that fewer people are needed in existing jobs, but that more opportunities will be created and productivity will increase.
Bezos went on to suggest that employment would even rise if A.I. makes it cheaper, easier and faster to invent things. He says that “even though you’re shrinking the number of people needed by 10x,” the technology will create “more than 10x” as many opportunities.
Bezos also claimed, “There’s going to be two-earner income households where one earner drops out of the labor pool, because there’s going to be so much productivity.”
However, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, more than half of those surveyed said that they fear that they or someone in their household could lose their job because of A.I.
Fifty-three percent of the 4,531 respondents held that concern, compared to 37 percent who did not.
Executive outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that U.S.-based employers had announced 97,006 job cuts in May, which is the highest total for that month since 2020.
“The labor market is being reshaped by technology in real time,” Andy Challenger, the firm’s chief revenue officer, said. “AI is now the leading reason companies give for cutting jobs and the primary industry citing it is Technology.”
According to The Wall Street Journal, Prometheus has held talks to raise a $100 billion fund to acquire manufacturing businesses and deploy A.I. across their operations.
Records also seen by the publication suggest that Prometheus is valued at $41 billion and has raised $12 billion from investors, including Bezos himself, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase.
The firm has also hired 150 people across offices in San Francisco, Zurich and London.
Advances in A.I. have laid the foundation for a “multitude of golden ages,” happening simultaneously, Bezos said.
“This is the best time to start a company,” he added.
