JD.com founder says robots will replace 700,000 couriers

The founder of one of China's largest e-commerce companies has stated that the country's vast army of delivery workers will eventually be replaced by robots, highlighting the profound employment challenges posed by rapid automation. Richard Liu, founder and chairman of JD.com, said on Sunday, June 21, that the company's 700,000 delivery personnel would be supplanted by machines, though he emphasized a commitment to retraining them for new technical roles.

Speaking at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Forum in Beijing, Liu described an inevitable future where robots handle parcel delivery. "In the future, when robots are delivering parcels, sooner or later, there will be a day when couriers are basically no longer needed," he said. "It will definitely be robots delivering parcels. But I really do not want our 700,000 brothers to go without meals, without jobs."

To address the coming transition, Liu unveiled a mass retraining initiative, called the Nirvana Project. He said JD.com has signed contracts with approximately 120 schools across China to prepare its couriers for new work, such as repairing and maintaining the very robots that will displace them. Liu argued that...