October 24, 2025 • 7 mins
Kevin Cirilli, Host of iHeartRadio's 'Hello Future with Kevin Cirilli' podcast, discusses recent reports about Amazon looking to replace half a million U.S. jobs with robots, and concerns over AI's impact on the job market.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's go to the hotline and bring in the host
of the Hello Future podcast on iHeartRadio, Kevin SURRELLI is
back with us. Kevin. It's great to talk to you.
I've got a couple of different things I want to
ask you about. Let's start with those leaked internal documents
revealing Amazon's plans to replace more than five hundred thousand
(00:21):
US warehouse jobs with robots over the course of the
next decade. What is going into this plan? Is this
just the natural evolution of that technology along with AI advancements.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah, I got to pour some cold water on the
New York Times reporting because Amazon has come out and
said that these are really going to be more like
cobots where humans are going to be working alongside of them.
And what the article really kind of missed was this
idea that their automation and with the robots, and by
the way, they're not going to look like humanoids. They're
going to be more large robots that are going to
(01:00):
be on the manufacturing plant floors that can lift heavy
boxes of all of our Amazon packages. And you know,
that's kind of a good thing, to be honest, but
you can back going to be humanoids. They're going to
be more automated manufacturing plants, and it will create new
human jobs or allow for humans to do other things.
So I'm always very very skeptical of reports. You know,
(01:24):
it fits a media narrative of oh, robots are replacing humans,
but it doesn't really line up with what we've seen
in the last decade or so, where we've seen yes,
layoffs at tech companies, but job creation and other sectors
at those tech companies. And I think that the tech
industry is just in a period of tumult, and it's
(01:46):
going to be in a period of tumult. I would
argue for the rest of our lives if you subscribe
to the notion like I do, that we are in
the middle of the next industrial.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Revolutions now specifically manufacturing, where astobs things like that. There's
no question that industry has been hit hard by technological
advances in recent decades. You know, a lot of people
point to trade, especially trade with China, as the reason
so many of those jobs ended up being lost. But really,
when you take a look at it, technology that had
(02:17):
more to do with it than anything else. But like
you said, that doesn't necessarily mean there won't be other
opportunities just those industries are changing.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
They're changing. I mean, even the word calculator actually comes
from mathematicians who would sit at their desk and they
were dubbed calculators. Humans were dubbed calculators because they would
sit at their desk and calculate. Then a device was
created called the calculator, and the job went from a
human to the device of a calculator. But what happened
(02:50):
to those humans. They didn't stop doing arithmetic. They became programmers,
computer programmers, and that word was created. Now we're living
at a time where artistics intelligence is doing a lot
of the computer programming, and with through generative AI, that
will yes displace some computer programmers, but now those people
(03:11):
are going to get new jobs that perhaps we haven't
even thought of yet.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
But it does seem like a scary prospect. I think
for some people who are in industries that that could
be impacted in a huge way by all of this.
I mean truck drivers, that's that's one field. Uber drivers
with these cars that you know are about to be
put out there. I mean Tesla just came out elon
(03:36):
Musk saying, you know, they're going to have those robotaxis
ready to go soon. I mean, it's not going to
be an immediate complete disruption of the industry, but it
does seem like it's coming. And for those people who
are doing those jobs right now, you know, that's that's unnerving.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
I totally totally understand the unnerving. I think that the
correct word that you use. And I talk about this.
I interviewed on the podcast the former head of artificial
intelligence at NASAs Jet Propulson Laboratory, and we talk about
the booming space economy and the job opportunities of new
jobs in outer space, that you would be able to
have jobs that work in space here on planet Earth,
(04:17):
but also in outer space. But the word disruption is
very different than the word fear, and I think that
embracing the disruption is the way to navigate through the
Industrial Revolution because at the end of the day, the upside.
Let's just take the Internet for example. I don't want
to live in a world without the Internet. I mean, sure,
(04:38):
can we all agree that there are bad things about
the Internet. And by the way, Washington, I don't care
what side of the eyel you're on, get us no favors.
And how they navigated the Internet so hopefully they learn
with the release of artificial intelligence. I mean, just look
at the mental health impacts of social media that Washington
failed to grasp, especially on our kids. But specifically with disruption.
(05:00):
I don't want to live in a world without the
Internet when you think of GPS or ride sharing apps.
So I do think that anytime there's a new technology
that is unleashed, yes it is disrupted. Yes, it also
allows for America to do what we do best, which
is innovate, and innovation is the key to job creations.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
All right, the host of Hello Future on iHeartRadio. Definitely
worth checking out. Kevin's really with us this morning. Kevin
always appreciate time and insight. Thanks so much you One
area I'll say, right, I disagree with Kevin a little
bit that disruption is coming. It's going to impact lots
(05:42):
of different fields, lots of different jobs, and there will
be other opportunities that are created. But that disruption in
and of itself can be really tough on a lot
of workers who have built their careers on a very
specific skill set. And we saw that, you know, with
(06:04):
let's say minds and coal plans closing down. You know,
people who had those jobs. It was like, all right,
well those jobs are going away, so pivots something else. Well,
it's not that easy. It's very, very difficult. Now there
are going to be other ways. I think AI completely
changes things like are you really going to need to
(06:26):
spend all of that money and take out those student
loans for that education at an expensive university With all
that we can get from AI, all the knowledge that
we can gain from it in an instant, could it
change higher education? I think, you know, that's something that
could be disrupt There are lots of different ways it's
(06:47):
going to change different things, and throughout history. The first
time it's happened, I mean, we were in agriculture based
economy and then you have the Industrial Revolution and that
up ends everything. And now you've got this tech logical
revolution that's upending everything. So we've been through this before.
But during those periods of disruption, it can be very
(07:08):
difficult on you know, large numbers of Americans who are
caught right in the middle of it, even if there
are other parts of it that are exciting and that
could lead to really great things down the road. So
Ryan Gorman Show on NewsRadio WFLA, follow us on Facebook
and Instagram at Ryan Gorman Show and find us online
(07:30):
at ryangormanshow dot com.
Let's go to the hotline and bring in the host
of the Hello Future podcast on iHeartRadio, Kevin SURRELLI is
back with us. Kevin. It's great to talk to you.
I've got a couple of different things I want to
ask you about. Let's start with those leaked internal documents
revealing Amazon's plans to replace more than five hundred thousand
(00:21):
US warehouse jobs with robots over the course of the
next decade. What is going into this plan? Is this
just the natural evolution of that technology along with AI advancements.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah, I got to pour some cold water on the
New York Times reporting because Amazon has come out and
said that these are really going to be more like
cobots where humans are going to be working alongside of them.
And what the article really kind of missed was this
idea that their automation and with the robots, and by
the way, they're not going to look like humanoids. They're
going to be more large robots that are going to
(01:00):
be on the manufacturing plant floors that can lift heavy
boxes of all of our Amazon packages. And you know,
that's kind of a good thing, to be honest, but
you can back going to be humanoids. They're going to
be more automated manufacturing plants, and it will create new
human jobs or allow for humans to do other things.
So I'm always very very skeptical of reports. You know,
(01:24):
it fits a media narrative of oh, robots are replacing humans,
but it doesn't really line up with what we've seen
in the last decade or so, where we've seen yes,
layoffs at tech companies, but job creation and other sectors
at those tech companies. And I think that the tech
industry is just in a period of tumult, and it's
(01:46):
going to be in a period of tumult. I would
argue for the rest of our lives if you subscribe
to the notion like I do, that we are in
the middle of the next industrial.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Revolutions now specifically manufacturing, where astobs things like that. There's
no question that industry has been hit hard by technological
advances in recent decades. You know, a lot of people
point to trade, especially trade with China, as the reason
so many of those jobs ended up being lost. But really,
when you take a look at it, technology that had
(02:17):
more to do with it than anything else. But like
you said, that doesn't necessarily mean there won't be other
opportunities just those industries are changing.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
They're changing. I mean, even the word calculator actually comes
from mathematicians who would sit at their desk and they
were dubbed calculators. Humans were dubbed calculators because they would
sit at their desk and calculate. Then a device was
created called the calculator, and the job went from a
human to the device of a calculator. But what happened
(02:50):
to those humans. They didn't stop doing arithmetic. They became programmers,
computer programmers, and that word was created. Now we're living
at a time where artistics intelligence is doing a lot
of the computer programming, and with through generative AI, that
will yes displace some computer programmers, but now those people
(03:11):
are going to get new jobs that perhaps we haven't
even thought of yet.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
But it does seem like a scary prospect. I think
for some people who are in industries that that could
be impacted in a huge way by all of this.
I mean truck drivers, that's that's one field. Uber drivers
with these cars that you know are about to be
put out there. I mean Tesla just came out elon
(03:36):
Musk saying, you know, they're going to have those robotaxis
ready to go soon. I mean, it's not going to
be an immediate complete disruption of the industry, but it
does seem like it's coming. And for those people who
are doing those jobs right now, you know, that's that's unnerving.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
I totally totally understand the unnerving. I think that the
correct word that you use. And I talk about this.
I interviewed on the podcast the former head of artificial
intelligence at NASAs Jet Propulson Laboratory, and we talk about
the booming space economy and the job opportunities of new
jobs in outer space, that you would be able to
have jobs that work in space here on planet Earth,
(04:17):
but also in outer space. But the word disruption is
very different than the word fear, and I think that
embracing the disruption is the way to navigate through the
Industrial Revolution because at the end of the day, the upside.
Let's just take the Internet for example. I don't want
to live in a world without the Internet. I mean, sure,
(04:38):
can we all agree that there are bad things about
the Internet. And by the way, Washington, I don't care
what side of the eyel you're on, get us no favors.
And how they navigated the Internet so hopefully they learn
with the release of artificial intelligence. I mean, just look
at the mental health impacts of social media that Washington
failed to grasp, especially on our kids. But specifically with disruption.
(05:00):
I don't want to live in a world without the
Internet when you think of GPS or ride sharing apps.
So I do think that anytime there's a new technology
that is unleashed, yes it is disrupted. Yes, it also
allows for America to do what we do best, which
is innovate, and innovation is the key to job creations.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
All right, the host of Hello Future on iHeartRadio. Definitely
worth checking out. Kevin's really with us this morning. Kevin
always appreciate time and insight. Thanks so much you One
area I'll say, right, I disagree with Kevin a little
bit that disruption is coming. It's going to impact lots
(05:42):
of different fields, lots of different jobs, and there will
be other opportunities that are created. But that disruption in
and of itself can be really tough on a lot
of workers who have built their careers on a very
specific skill set. And we saw that, you know, with
(06:04):
let's say minds and coal plans closing down. You know,
people who had those jobs. It was like, all right,
well those jobs are going away, so pivots something else. Well,
it's not that easy. It's very, very difficult. Now there
are going to be other ways. I think AI completely
changes things like are you really going to need to
(06:26):
spend all of that money and take out those student
loans for that education at an expensive university With all
that we can get from AI, all the knowledge that
we can gain from it in an instant, could it
change higher education? I think, you know, that's something that
could be disrupt There are lots of different ways it's
(06:47):
going to change different things, and throughout history. The first
time it's happened, I mean, we were in agriculture based
economy and then you have the Industrial Revolution and that
up ends everything. And now you've got this tech logical
revolution that's upending everything. So we've been through this before.
But during those periods of disruption, it can be very
(07:08):
difficult on you know, large numbers of Americans who are
caught right in the middle of it, even if there
are other parts of it that are exciting and that
could lead to really great things down the road. So
Ryan Gorman Show on NewsRadio WFLA, follow us on Facebook
and Instagram at Ryan Gorman Show and find us online
(07:30):
at ryangormanshow dot com.
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