On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Jeff Bezos, one of Donald Trump‘s corporate allies, is in talks to raise $100 billion to lead a robotics-driven transformation in manufacturing. According to the report, the Amazon founder is planning to automate manufacturing using artificial intelligence.
The Journal reported that Bezos “is meeting with some of the world’s largest asset managers to raise funding for the project.” It added that only a few months ago, he was in the Middle East “to discuss the new fund with sovereign wealth representatives in the region.” The outlet also reported that the Amazon founder traveled to Singapore as well to raise funding for the project, according to the sources.
However, the report has sparked some outrage as it comes at a time when the country is already struggling with fewer job opportunities. The economic experts at the Federal Reserve are worried about the “almost zero” job growth since last year.
View this post on Instagram
Many critics and political analysts took to social media to express concerns over the automation of manufacturing businesses, which could lead to further job losses. Journalist Daniel Wills wrote on Bluesky, “Very curious what he means by AI or if he even knows.”
He added, “Because I’m not sure how a language simulator would automate manufacturing? Or if he just means machine learning, what there even is to automate beyond the programming we already give the robots who have done most of the work for decades?”
John Jackson, a military veteran, slammed on X (formerly Twitter), “Jobs? What Jobs?” Put This On editor Derek Guy noted, “This is the future people like @matthewstoller and @SohrabAhmari see for reshoring U.S. manufacturing. It’s reshoring in name only, as it does not create good-paying jobs for regular people.”
Kyle Kulinski, who hosts The Kyle Kulinski Show wrote on X, “The Epstein class is literally trying to take everyone’s job and leave people to suffer and die with absolutely nothing. Billionaires are a national security threat and need to be dealt with accordingly.”
View this post on Instagram
On social media, many other users slammed Bezos for his new plan. “How many jobs would this eliminate?” one asked. Another added, “He’ll go from being among the greatest job creators to job destroyers.”
“Kind of ironic that the fund is called ‘Project Prometheus’ when its goal is anything but aiding humanity,“ wrote a third.
WSJ reported that the Amazon founder would be acquiring companies related to defense, chipmaking, and aerospace. The report said this project is associated with Bezos’ AI startup, Project Prometheus. Last November, he was involved in the startup, which was co-founded by former Google executive Vik Bajaj.
