Jeff Bezos has dismissed concerns that artificial intelligence will lead to mass unemployment, insisting that history shows technology creates more jobs than it destroys. Speaking ahead of the London AI Summit, the Amazon founder argued that fears of a 'job apocalypse' are overblown, pointing to past industrial revolutions that ultimately raised living standards worldwide.
'Every wave of innovation has sparked the same anxieties,' Bezos told a select audience of tech leaders and policymakers. 'From the Luddites smashing looms to the panic over ATMs, humans adapt. We will again.' His comments come as the UK government prepares to host global leaders, scientists, and industry figures at the two-day summit, aiming to position Britain as a hub for 'safe and responsible' AI development.
Yet critics accuse Bezos of wilful blindness. The World Economic Forum estimates that AI could displace 85 million jobs by 2025 while creating 97 million new roles, but the displacement is not evenly distributed. Low-skilled workers in retail, logistics, and manufacturing face the brunt of automation. Meanwhile, tech giants like Amazon continue to deploy warehouse robots and cashier-less stores, squeezing human labour out of the equation.
Dr. Alena Petrova, a labour economist at the London School of Economics, warns that the 'creative destruction' Bezos champions often punishes the vulnerable. 'It's easy for a billionaire to be sanguine when his own job is safe. For a truck driver or call centre operator, the transition is brutal. Retraining programs exist, but they are patchy and underfunded.'
The summit itself is a delicate balancing act. On one hand, the UK wants to attract AI investment and talent, competing with Silicon Valley and Beijing. On the other, it must address public unease over deepfakes, algorithmic bias, and the 'Black Mirror' scenarios that Bezos dismisses as science fiction. Culture Secretary Lucy Fraser has promised new regulations to ensure AI systems are 'transparent, fair, and accountable' but has stopped short of the moratorium on advanced AI development demanded by some activists.
Bezos’s laissez-faire stance also glosses over the race to artificial general intelligence (AGI) systems that could outperform humans at most cognitive tasks. Geoffrey Hinton, the 'godfather of AI', recently quit Google to speak freely about existential risks, warning that AGI could be 'more dangerous than nuclear weapons'. Bezos, however, remains unmoved. 'We need to be thoughtful, not fearful. Innovation has always outrun regulation, and that is a feature, not a bug.'
The summit will feature demonstrations of AI applications in healthcare, climate science, and education, showcasing what the government calls 'AI for good'. But behind the optimistic veneer, the debate over jobs, ethics, and digital sovereignty simmers. Smaller nations worry that AI will concentrate power in the hands of a few megacorporations, eroding national control over data and decision-making.
For now, Bezos’s message resonates with the tech sector, which sees the summit as a chance to shape policy. But for the millions watching their jobs evolve or vanish, the reassurance of a man whose net worth exceeds the GDP of many countries rings hollow. As the summit opens, the question remains: can society harness AI’s power without being consumed by it?
