- Jeff Bezos believes AI will create a labor shortage by increasing demand for workers
- He said AI will help turn more ideas into reality, boosting entrepreneurship and manufacturing
- Bezos spoke at VivaTech about his AI venture Prometheus focused on accelerating manufacturing
While fears of AI-driven mass unemployment loom, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has come up with a contrarian perspective. The billionaire, in fact, believes that the technology would help unlock new opportunities and increase demand for people, leading to a 'labour shortage' in the market as an increasing number of ideas are turned into reality.
Speaking at the VivaTech conference in Paris about his new AI venture Prometheus, which is focused on accelerating physical manufacturing, Bezos pushed back against the criticism levelled about the technology.
"I know there's a lot of concern that many people have, including many smart people, that AI is going to make humans redundant," Bezos was quoted as saying by the BBC. "I totally disagree with this point of view, and I think, in fact, AI is going to create a labour shortage."
Bezos explained that AI could create demand for more builders, creators, and entrepreneurs as AI makes it easier for people to turn any concept into reality.
"I promise you every single person in this audience has had an idea for a new business or a new product or a new device that they wish they could manufacture, and that idea stayed in your head and went nowhere. And the reason it stayed in your head and went nowhere is because it's too hard to do, and it wasn't worth it."
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AI: Industrial Bubble
Bezos has previously stated that the world is currently in an 'industrial bubble' when it comes to AI, adding that the technology will bring real benefits to society.
"This is kind of an industrial bubble as opposed to financial bubbles," said Bezos last year, adding: "The banking bubble, the crisis in the banking system, that's just bad, that's like 2008. Those bubbles society wants to avoid. The ones that are industrial are not nearly as bad, they can even be good. Because when the dust settles and you see who are the winners society benefits from those inventions."
While Bezos takes an optimistic view of the technology, others have warned about the perils of the technology. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has warned that AI could soon wipe out 50 per cent of entry-level white-collar jobs within the next five years.
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