Jeff Bezos says AI will create labour shortages, not job losses

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos believes artificial intelligence will create more jobs than it eliminates, pushing back against concerns that the technology could make large numbers of workers redundant. Speaking at the VivaTech conference in Paris, Bezos said fears around AI-driven unemployment are overblown.

"I know there's a lot of concern that many people have, including many smart people, that AI is going to make humans redundant and so on," Bezos said."I totally disagree with this point of view. And I think, in fact, AI is going to create a labour shortage."

His comments come as companies across industries are adopting AI tools and investors continue to pour billions into the technology. These comments come at a time when global companies have cut thousands of jobs after pouring money into AI capabilities. Amazon, too, has cut around 30,000 corporate roles since late last year, partly due to AI efficiency gains.

Bezos argued that people are not short of ideas or ambition, but are often constrained by a lack of resources, time and capability. Technologies such as AI, he said, can remove some of those barriers and help people build more products, services and businesses.

The billionaire also spoke about Prometheus, his new AI venture focused on speeding up physical manufacturing. While manufacturing has long been associated with automation and fewer workers, Bezos suggested AI could instead help expand economic activity and create new opportunities.

Bezos’ moon ambitions

Bezos also spoke about his ambitions for space exploration and reiterated his belief that humans will eventually establish a permanent presence on the Moon.

"We're going to the Moon to stay, not just to visit," he said. According to him, the biggest challenge facing future space development is not demand but access. He described space as "supply constrained, not demand constrained" and said the Moon could serve as a base for deeper exploration because of its relative proximity to Earth and the resources available there. "The moon is the first best step. We'll go to Mars and we'll do all the other things, but the moon is the first best step. It's kind of a gift. It's so near Earth," Bezos said.

He also noted that the Moon's weaker gravity makes it significantly easier and cheaper to transport materials into space, potentially allowing resources such as oxygen produced on the lunar surface to support future missions. He suggested technologies such as electrolysis could one day be used to convert lunar resources into fuel, helping support long-term missions beyond Earth.

The conversation also touched on Blue Origin, Bezos' space company, which suffered a setback in May when an uncrewed New Glenn rocket exploded during a ground test at Cape Canaveral in Florida. "It was a gut punch for the whole team. But what we've learned since then is we got really lucky," Bezos said.