Amazon Introduces Artificial Intelligence, Sets to Boost Product Deliveries

American multinational e-commerce company Amazon has introduced Artificial Intelligence to boost its delivery speed. According to a top Amazon executive, the newly introduced AI will bring products closer to customers. The AI functions by locating the nearest warehouse with the product needed by the consumer.

In a short discussion with Stefan Perego, Amazon’s vice president of customer fulfillment and global op services for North America and Europe, he explained how the tech giant is applying AI to its logistics. There are several metrics considered by the Artificial Intelligence used for Amazon deliveries.

Amazon Wants to Use Artificial Intelligence for Order Deliveries

Perego said the AI is evaluating the transportation of goods by looking into mapping and planning routes and variable factors like the weather. Amazon-enabled Artificial Intelligence will also help customers locate the right goods straight from the search icon. However, e-commerce is extending the use of AI to figure out where to place its inventory. Perego explains that Amazon aims to lower the cost of service by working on its inventory placement. He said:

“Imagine how complex is the problem of deciding where to place that unit of inventory. And to place it in a way that we reduce the distance to fulfill to customers, and increase the speed of delivery.”

For a while now, Amazon has effortlessly tried to work on a regionalization plan to ship products to customers from the closest warehouse. Previously, products were shipped from warehouses in other regions, increasing the delivery time. Amazon now uses Artificial Intelligence to determine the regions where certain products are high in demand by analyzing data and patterns.

With Artificial Intelligence, Amazon products will be delivered to a consumer on the same day or the next day. This type of delivery is similar to services offered by Amazon Prime subscription. Since the implementation of Artificial Intelligence, about 74% of the customers’ orders are from fulfillment centers within the region.

Amazon Pairs AI with Robotics

Amazon has enabled robotics in its fulfillment centers to help handle repetitive tasks like lifting heavy packages. According to Amazon, 75% of customer orders are handled using robotics. The frequent usage of artificial intelligence and robotics has garnered a lot of reactions regarding the availability of jobs. Notably, the ChatGPT AI chatbot developed by OpenAI has taken the lead in filling job positions. An earlier report by Goldman Sachs suggests a disruption to the global labor market with automation affecting approximately 300 million jobs.

Perego classified automation as “collaborative robotics”, which involves the interaction between humans and technology. He said automation would cause a transformation in the type of jobs done by humans. The widespread of automation and AI will rather change job specifications that eliminate available job positions. Henceforth, humans would carry out jobs that require cognitive abilities rather than manpower.