Coles, Woolworths 'falling into line' with new-age tech at the expense of their workers as stories of layoffs due to AI continue to stack up
No longer the scenario of 10 years down the track, it has begun to chip away across almost all sectors.
While a shift towards salient new technologies is inevitable, questions need to be answered on the viability of cutting jobs and whether industries should be allowed to use AI as an excuse to stop employing people, or terminate employment en masse to replace them with AI.
Stories of layoffs due to AI are adding up, and while national and multinational corporations, who make billions in profits, look for ways to cut costs, the costs of replacing human labour for software packages may be the worst road to take.
There is some inevitability that downsizing will take place as departments run more efficiently, with new powerful AI tools.
However, there are many sectors and corporations within those sectors who can support workers and remain competitive without massive job cuts.
With new occupations emerging due to AI, companies have an obligation to provide long-term investment in human jobs instead of taking the easy way out.
Meta, the brainchild of Mark Zuckerberg, with platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger and a plethora of software and app developments, could be replacing 90 per cent of the staff who perform their privacy and integrity reviews.
Microsoft, who produce a swath of video game content and run platforms such as LinkedIn, Skype, and Mojang just to name a few, recently announced it will be slashing up to 9,000 jobs to invest more heavily into AI.
Other corporations who are following suit include Intuit, Duolingo, UPS, Cisco, and IBM who are replacing staff to incorporate AI or are using their savings to invest in it.
Other companies closer to home who are racing towards technological optimisation for its customers are Coles and Woolworths.
The massive supermarket giants have recently announced trials of their 'digital revolution' in the form of the Coles Smart Trolley and Woolworths Scan&Go Trolley, allowing customers to use a small tablet to scan and bag items as they go, display in-store specials and 'product aisle locations'.
This allows customers to track their spending as they shop, 'pack as you go', and simply pay the sum total at a self-serve checkout, rather than offloading at a serviced checkout.
A Coles spokesman said Smart Trolley showcases Coles' commitment to delivering value and convenience to customers through innovative digital solutions.
It says on the Woolworths Group webpage there will be no change to existing methods of transaction, 'including the option to be served by a team member at an assisted checkout, using the self-service check out, pick up via 'direct to boot', or online delivery'.
Woolworths insists the rollout of their smart trolleys is limited, with only about 35 stores so far involved in the process, and that the grocery giant has no plans to make any changes to its staffing levels.
However, the trend towards cutting back on staff at the coalface of customer service at Coles and Woolworths is obvious.
There are great services Woolworths and other grocery stores provide, which support employment, with click and collect and direct to-the-boot initiatives, employing people to perform these services and Woolworths are adamant their human workforce will not be impacted by the new smart-tech trolleys.
However, as these AI-powered trolleys become the status quo, the days of half a dozen or so employees "ringing up" groceries and packing them is over.
New AI technologies that are developing right now can perform so many of the tasks that human labour delivers – but without the need for an hourly payrate, superannuation contributions, accumulated holiday and sick days, no maternity leave and no dispute resolution.
What do all the aforementioned companies have in common, apart from technical prowess and market domination?
They are all hugely profitable.
Meta's estimated worth alone is $3 trillion. Microsoft $6 trillion. IBM $363.2 billion.
Duolingo $24.7 billion and Woolworths is estimated at over $38 billion.
One of the labour markets hit hardest by AI is entry-level occupations, usually filled with young graduates, with youth unemployment expected to trend upward drastically by 2030.
This leads one to ask whether AI is really replacing humans because it is a natural progression or because companies and corporations simply choose an easy way out at the detriment of society.
Where does this all leave humanity?
What will happen when occupations that people have studied for, worked for, no longer cater for human labour?
What is going to happen to school leavers when trying to enter the labour market but cannot, with so many entry-level jobs being replaced with AI software.
Furthermore, if less hours, universal wages, and greater freedoms to pursue creative and personal goals are a part of the answer, will the millionaires and the top one per cent be allowed to remain the aristocracy?
Will they be the last of their kind who can attain such wealth?
The economic purists will begin deriding the assertions here that companies have always needed to adapt, develop, and invest in the ever-changing competitive market, and that AI is merely a continuance of the industrial revolution.
There is room for AI to improve businesses, to run the most complex math equations and find answers in minutes rather than years, and to steer us towards finding cures for diseases.
However, governments need to ensure that we are not replaced, and although work will evolve and move into areas most of us can barely imagine, the transitions need to be nuanced and positive for society, with opportunities for generations to partake in meaningful careers and undertakings.
As companies begin to replace staff with AI under the guise of restructuring, there needs to be an intervention now, between government and industry, to produce guidelines to stabilise the labour force and provide initiatives for the next generation to move through school and tertiary education, in the knowledge that the world is still their oyster.
Robert Weir is a freelance journalist whose work has also been published in The Spectator Australia. He enjoys writing political, lifestyle, and environmental stories as well as film reviews
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