Amazon GO - making cashier obsolete?
 

I don't know how this works but looks cool...seems much faster than self-checkout.

I understand efficiency and the speed of it... but why are we creating this world where you never have to interact with any other humans? I've enjoyed countless banter or being told about offers or cool products with cashiers at a variety of stores or places. Sure most of them are just in and out and they hate their life but those gems here and there make it worth it in my opinion.

Nevermind it's yet another basic job being eliminated, what's anyone supposed to do for work in the future?

All these 'basic jobs' need to be eliminated in order for us to move onto better things.

We need to replace practically every service with robots, give everyone a guaranteed wage, and set humanity free to do things other than banter about offers and cool products. ;)

Artisanal services would still exist, only it will be people who really want to do them (because they'd be getting paid anyway) so service would be so much better in every way. And you'd still get that human interaction - again with people who actually want to live that kind of lifestyle (and there are plenty that do)

The issue with AI is that is not still not smart enough to try to do all things human can do. Is smart but not there yet.

IE when my parents go to McDonald's to get their breakfast they perfer the cashier rather than the self server computer. Since they can't really read English really well.

I sometimes perfer to talk to a human when calling in for service (mainly to complain and try to get a credit). Talking to a human is much easier to get a credit.

Same with tech support. I am sure if tech support were to go all AI it will piss off a lot of ppl. Even talking to them sometimes is so confusing to see what they are having issue with.

We're not remotely close of course, but we're working on getting there. Especially when it comes to actual AI. Things like complaining about bad service ideally won't happen, because there will be no such thing as bad service.

And tech support, I never once spoke to tech support that wasn't some fucking idiot following a step by step guide that was given to them to follow. In this case, a properly coded AI would be MUCH better.

Funny how talking to people to get a credit is the first thing that comes up... Revscene never changes EleGiggle

Agreed, McDonald's is the perfect example, but not only just for the customer. Something like 1/6 people have worked at McDonald's in north america, it's how people learn (usually at a younger age) how to interact with all types or people, count money, simple interaction. These new machines cut out a key component in the introduction to work life. What are you going to learn if you never have to deal with an angry customer or complaint by sitting in the back fulfilling orders or flipping burgers.

There'll be no/fewer cashiers, but more stockers, tech jobs (for system maintenance, etc.), security, and floor managers.

I dunno if the self checkout and customer service in places like Home Depot was eliminated with even a half intelligent AI I'd be pretty happy

Idiots populate these places and frankly I'm sick of dealing with incompetence.

"Hey do you have any of these in the back? I've already checked all your stock as well as the inventory above the shelves"

HD employee: "okayyy im just gonna check every box you've already checked as well as waste 10 minutes with my head up in the air looking at the same inventory you just spent 5 searching, wait a minute, what exactly are you trying to do again?"

:@ :@ :@

Further to your point, the general public should become more cognizant of the veil that surrounds employment statistics, and the politicians that rely on them them to depict a narrative whereby they are "creating jobs," and as a result, are jumpstarting the economy. In reality, if people were more discerning they would realize that employment statistics are heavily inflated by "unskilled" labour. I.e: more (insert: low wage, low skill job here, burger flipping, bagging groceries, cashier jobs...) jobs were added, but its those same jobs that are the first to disappear during economic downturns.

I suppose my overarching point is, automation will replace a lot of these unskilled jobs, and as the automation technology matures and becomes more advanced, higher skilled trade jobs that have traditionally been safe from such technological advances will also go by the way of the Dodo. Food for though: maybe those liberal arts degrees that a lot of people like to shit aren't as useless as they make them out to be after all. Then again, its like anything else in life - Its what you make of it!

Do you honestly think that's what's going to happen though? It's a very utopian view, I can only wish that's the direction this is eventually headed in and I personally have voice my opinion before on how the capitalist system we live in is, by and large, utter bullshit... but I think it's going to be much more of a dystopia with only a few people controlling everything in the world and an underground revolution of sorts starting up. I don't really think anyone actually in a position of power envisions anything even remotely hippy with any of this nor do they want to see humanity freed up to do other things... If anything we are looking at the starting points of the eventual elimination of large sects of the human population.

Some might argue it's also a portion of a process of separating us from each other, take away interaction and no one communicates directly anymore and it's much harder to organize against things you don't like or realize that others feel the same way you do.

from watching that video...i'm picturing people pretending to just "GO" and walking out with a shit ton of stolen stuff :badpokerface:

That will not cover the amount of jobs lost. Down the road there will have to be a living wage where everyone gets a base pay from the government.

lol @ being tested with amazon employees only, they aren't going to steal shit

put this in public and you will see shoplifters


the only way this works is that you get a key fob or a fingerprint scanner to get in

Companies will probably start to consider a guaranteed wage for society once they find all those unemployed/working poor are unable to buy their products. Capitalism has many faults, but it can still work. I would hope a modern French Revolution complete with Guillotines, would not be necessary to make that change.

Because a lot of people hate that crap?

It is a problem with self check out stalls already (shop lifting is actually up because of it), but it comes down to cost / profit ratio.

For those interested check out Bloomberg's article on Crime at Walmarts around America... Honestly I think the Amazon is a publicity stunt / disruption.. Amazon Prime Now already more or less produce the end same result (too bad not available in Vancouver).

In this case, they do.. it is via one's cell phone.

So long as I can avoid one more Self Checkout at Canadian Tire...because I swear the next human interaction I have with someone after using one will be extremely violent.

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With our generation's luck everyone's job - skilled or otherwise- will be automated before our retirement age and we'll have to eke out an existence on Universal Basic Income (UBI). That or we'll fight each other for scraps in a post-work post-apocalyptic hellscape while the elites move to Mars.

Well Jeff Bezos did offer Donald Trump a ticket to Mars.. I really hope he take him up on his offer. I am pretty confident I won't see people traveling back and forth between Earth and Mars for pleasure in my life time.

I do notice a change, when I started decades ago, it was work in the garage mentality. You just create a product by yourself someone will buy it. But now things are so complicated you need teams. To build teams you need good social skills not just engineering and math skills to excel. You still need them "eventually", but it also means people who BS can sneak in. So it hurts guys more since social skills is not a strong suit for typical males. Currently GDP in the western world can't support UBI, I know Switzerland is trailing, but I don't expect post Trump Western countries would dare to do it.

Still be thinning the heard of employable people though. There's still people out there who work the jobs no one else will (immigrants, developmentally disabled) but there's also the college students. The ones who are in between leaving high school and having a career. With tuition always going up, where will they work to help pay for their living standards? They're not yet qualified for career work so what happens in that scenario? Will they all just compete for the remaining jobs even though so many are extinct?

Population always rising, schools getting more filled, debt going up, all these things do is create bottlenecks within our institutions. Obviously this can't be addressed in a single night or even a decade but it's a reality of a civilization that's moving very fast, technologically. There's so many hurdles in the long term but everyone's so focused on the short term.

*The above is what I always think about when it comes to Automation / Robotics / AI. Not just limited to this Amazon Go'.

Amazon Go shows that our technology is led by the ever-growing laziness of humanity. :fuckthatshit:

Nevertheless, I don't think this is the ultimate revolution as far as retail goes, but rather, cease the need to go into the store all together. This just puts us one step closer.

Thrifty Foods, Save-On-Foods and others offer online shopping with delivery for groceries.

I still much prefer going to the store in person.

The way the system works you can't shoplift. You have to log on to your Amazon account to get in and as soon as you pick an item off the shelf it charges your account.