Amazon employs roughly 650,000 people, and about 300,000 of them work on its retail side, many in low-paying, physically demanding warehouse jobs.
Amazon also employs about 200,000 robots in its warehouses and is supporting research that will create robots with better dexterity to grasp and carry objects (something that's stumped researchers so far).
When that happens, Amazon almost certainly won't employ tens of thousands of people to pick items off shelves anymore.
Instead of just shrugging off its workers' futures entirely, in July, Amazon promised to "upskill" 100,000 of its employees for the technical roles it will have available. It has dedicated $700 million to beef up a number of training programs. Not all of them are for warehouse workers, but some are.
This includes tuition assistance for job training for high-demand tech jobs outside of Amazon, like aircraft mechanics, medical technicians and nursing.
Amazon says its helped 25,000 employees get new jobs so far this way.