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As WIRED senior writer Will Knight writes in a behind-the-scenes feature article, Amazon is now rolling out thousands of new, more advanced robots. The move could have profound implications for the company’s workers, for its customers, and for ecommerce as a whole.
“Amazon’s latest robots could bring about a company-wide—and industry-wide—shift in the balance between automation and people,” Knight writes. “Certain jobs will be eliminated while new ones will emerge [...] and competitors, as always, will be forced to adapt or perish.”
Knight has spent more than a decade chronicling developments in automation, robotics, and artificial intelligence. He explains that, despite recent excitement over AI programs like ChatGPT, most industrial robots remain remarkably dumb and inflexible—largely because of the incredible challenges that come with operating in the messy physical world. And yet, rapid progress in AI, steady improvements in hardware, and rising demand for automation mean that we may well stand on the cusp of robotic revolution.
Read on for more stories about machines that are marching (and flying and rolling) this way. And when you’re ready for more, check out Knight’s Fast Forward newsletter.
Image courtesy of Figure AI / WIRED
Tom Vanderbilt
WIRED“The inspiring story of a scrappy group of undergrads who take on the world’s leading robot researchers in a contest organized by the Pentagon’s research division, Darpa.” -Will Knight, Senior Writer
Meghan O'Gieblyn
WIREDWK: “With ChatGPT et al, it’s easy to think that machines are already intelligent. But perhaps we need robots, constructed in the right way, for that to finally happen.”
Will Knight
WIREDWK: “John Deere is creating robots capable of toiling on farms. The outcry from some farmers reveals much about the power of AI and automation to concentrate power.”
Jane Hu
The New YorkerWK: “This fascinating essay explores the problems with blaming robots—and automation in general—stealing people’s jobs.”
Brian Gallagher
NautilusWK: “An interview with one scientist who believes we need to give robots the ability to ‘imagine’ and share a ‘culture.’”
Anna Waldman-Brown
WIREDWK: “Why automation is not the real threat to US factory jobs—and why that is crucial to the future of America’s economy.”
Will Knight
WIREDWK: “Building a robot capable of mimicking a human’s every move is insanely difficult. So why do several startups believe they can actually pull it off?”
H. James WilsonPaul R. Daugherty
Harvard Business ReviewWK: “A thoughtful piece from Harvard Business Review arguing that humans will be crucial to the success of even the most automated and robotic companies of the future.”
Aarian Marshall
WIREDWK: “Robot cars are a common sight in some cities. The chaos they are causing around San Francisco shows that not everyone is enamored with the technology.”
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Will Knight
Will Knight is a senior writer for WIRED, covering artificial intelligence. He writes the Fast Forward newsletter that explores how advances in AI and other emerging technology are set to change our lives—sign up here. He was previously a senior editor at MIT Technology Review, where he wrote about fundamental advances in AI and China’s AI boom. Before that, he was an editor and writer at New Scientist. He studied anthropology and journalism in the UK before turning his attention to machines. He is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.