E-commerce Giant JD.com Founder Says Courier Jobs Will Soon Be Extinct
In recent months, discussions about the future of human jobs potentially being replaced by artificial intelligence (AI) systems have become increasingly frequent. Groups of workers are beginning to worry that their professions will soon be taken over by increasingly sophisticated and reliable AI. Recently, some AI technology leaders, such as OpenAI’s Sam Altman, have said that such public concerns are exaggerated. He suggested there will be a shift in the job market, but humans will in the future focus more on professions that require creativity and direction.
Amid the sharp debate over AI’s impact on the job market, another technology is developing rapidly and may pose an even greater risk. That technology is robotics, which is often built upon AI systems. Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com has openly stated that online courier jobs will eventually be replaced by robots. Founder and head of JD.com, Richard Liu, warned that the company’s army of 700,000 online couriers will one day be replaced by robots. He made the remarks while speaking at an APEC CEO forum in Beijing.
“In the future, when robots deliver packages, sooner or later, there will come a time when couriers are basically no longer needed,” Liu said. “Robots will definitely deliver the packages. But I really don’t want 700,000 of our brothers to go hungry and lose their jobs,” he added. JD.com is one of China’s largest online retailers and competes with e-commerce giants such as Alibaba and Meituan. Although Liu did not provide a timeline for when robot delivery might become commonplace, the company is already preparing for that future. According to him, JD.com has partnered with about 120 schools to help retrain delivery workers for new roles that may emerge as automation expands.
One job that Liu believes will become increasingly important is robot maintenance. “Because robots are machines… they will, at some point, always break down,” he said, suggesting that workers who lose their jobs to automation could be trained to repair and manage robotic systems. The comments come as China aggressively invests in robotics and automation. The country’s latest five-year plan prioritises robotics as a key technology, with policymakers viewing robots as a major driver of future economic growth. Several pilot projects are already being tested across China, including robots delivering food to airport passengers and others operating in commuter rail networks to restock convenience stores.
Liu’s statement has reignited concerns about employment. China’s gig economy has grown rapidly in recent years, with research estimates suggesting the number of gig workers in the country could reach 320 million this year, up from around 200 million five years ago. Delivery workers, ride-hailing drivers, and temporary factory workers make up a large portion of this workforce. Liu stressed that technology should improve human life, not eliminate people’s ability to earn a living. “Technology should make human life better and jobs more interesting, rather than taking away people’s right to work,” he said.
Across the tech industry, companies are increasingly considering robots and automation to boost efficiency and reduce costs. Amazon, for example, revealed in June 2026 that it had deployed over a million robots across its operational network since 2012. The company uses robotic systems for tasks such as inventory sorting and packaging. A recent report from Business Insider also indicated Amazon is testing technology that automatically manages worker assignments in warehouses based on changing workloads throughout the day. In October 2025, the New York Times reported that Amazon planned to replace more than half a million jobs with robots, a massive undertaking. It is not yet known whether the same could happen in other countries, as the report stated the plan was currently for the United States. This trend extends beyond e-commerce giants. Robotics startup Figure AI recently claimed that the number of robots now exceeds the number of human employees within its own company. Figure AI founder Brett Adcock announced that the company had more robots than humans on its payroll, with robot deployment increasing sharply as manufacturing scales up.