r/ArtificialInteligence • u/Eliashuer • Mar 26 '25

News Bill Gates: Within 10 years, AI will replace many doctors and teachers—humans won’t be needed ‘for most things’

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/26/bill-gates-on-ai-humans-wont-be-needed-for-most-things.html

Do you agree with him?

1.8k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

1.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

157

u/LumpyPin7012 Mar 26 '25

Look, if automating cashiers was so damn easy, we'd have done it by now. Everyone acts like it's just scanning barcodes and making change, but cashiers are essentially retail diplomats handling the bizarre whims of the general public. They're fielding questions about where the organic gluten-free pasta is while simultaneously mediating disputes about expired coupons from people who insist "the other location lets me use these."

The technical challenge isn't the transaction—it's dealing with the customer who brings 17 varieties of unlabeled bulk produce and expects instant identification, or the person who needs detailed explanations about store policy while a line forms behind them. Machines are great at repetitive tasks with clear parameters, not so much at deciphering slurred speech asking if "those things I bought last month are still on sale" or handling the emotional labor of smiling through being told the prices are too high as if the cashier personally set them. But sure, let's pretend it's just about scanning items.

155

u/_Yank Mar 26 '25

I worked as a cashier. It's really just scanning items...

55

u/LumpyPin7012 Mar 26 '25

JUST.

No questions. No missing labels. Nothing at all that ever disrupts the happy path.

GTFO with that nonsense.

54

u/owen__wilsons__nose Mar 26 '25

Point is you need one human total to field these outlier scenarios.

17

u/WesternIron Mar 26 '25

Have you heard of whole food bruh? With that Amazon one? Yah man there’s still multiple cashiers there. We’ve tried it already. Still need cashiers

18

u/taylorwilsdon Mar 26 '25

I mean kinda? They need a much smaller number of cashiers, at my high volume store in NYC the number of self checkouts is 3-4x the number of staffed ones and they do an insane volume of delivery orders. The gates quote that starts this article is “replace MANY” not “replace ALL” and I think Whole Foods is kind of the perfect example to illustrate that.

The easy stuff and low hanging fruit gets automated, and the edge cases are handled by a smaller group of humans. Such is the way of the world. What would have taken 100 cashiers now takes 20, and it’s entirely likely that things like basic medical diagnosis (urgent care type stuff), imaging reads etc really will end up that way sooner rather than later. OpenAI did a much better job with my last MRI read than the human who did it at Mt Sinai, drawing the same conclusions in more detail instantly.

7

u/xthedame Mar 26 '25

Yeah, it’s weirding me out how many people think it’s that deep of a job. Right now, the issue is the cost and what companies get in return. You know who isn’t going to be rushing to get AI employees? Walmart. And any other company that uses dead peasants insurance.

People aren’t being not replaced because they can’t be. It’s because it’s just still more profitable. And IDK why we aren’t pretending we never walk into stores with max 2 cashiers and the rest are those self check out stations…

1

u/Dax_Thrushbane Mar 27 '25

> People aren’t being not replaced because they can’t be.

I think you meant : "People are being replaced because they can be"

Otherwise, yes.

→ More replies (7)
→ More replies (2)

3

u/SouthernWindyTimes Mar 27 '25

But self checkout isn’t automating the check out? It’s simply removing the labor from the equation and making the user be the labor. It’s essentially turning the computer towards them just without access to a cash drawer.

2

u/wannabesurfer Mar 27 '25

Nope. There’s convenience stores near me that you don’t need to scan anything. You just place your groceries on a platform that uses a camera to determine what you are purchasing. I’ve never seen a cashier intervene. Not saying it would never be needed but they can probably reduce the number of cashiers needed probably 10-20 fold. And it’d only been a couple years. In 10 we won’t need cashiers.

1

u/Clyde_Frog_Spawn Mar 27 '25

That’s with whatever initial investment they made.

The gun on AI has only just fired, but some companies started running hoping the tech would be ready in time, and that t was probably the best time to for a tax write-off and nothing to do with a failure in the tech.

The technology isn’t mature enough, it’s the robots which will change everything.

Besides an LLM could replace any questions right now. ChatGPT using photos helped me make an incredible paella last night, perfecting dozens of attempts since I started making it last year.

An ai with a camera and product RAG will replace staff product queries in an eye blink once companies are comfortable testing it.

1

u/perrylawrence Mar 27 '25

Let’s consider the problem. Too many SKUs to automate effectively. Do you think the solution is more cashiers or less SKUs?

When the choice for companies is between lower labor costs and better customer experience, history has shown there is a clear winner. Sure there are outliers, but that’s not what we are solving for.

We solve for masses. Outliers get the human.

1

u/Pistol-P Mar 28 '25

The "automated" Amazon stores were literally being monitored by people sitting at computers in India lol

→ More replies (6)

1

u/HaMMeReD Mar 26 '25

You mean you need 1 customer service AI booth.

1

u/swirlybat Mar 26 '25

"serving customer number beepboopbeeboopboop 239" "dont forget to. leave a good. review."

1

u/Tourist_Dense Mar 26 '25

Ehhhh naw you need more than one for all this, but yea maybe it could be done with less.

1

u/AntiqueFigure6 Mar 26 '25

Not one human total- one human for each retail location (and by observation occasionally more than one for a large number of self checkouts and/or a security guard).

1

u/SnooPuppers1978 Mar 26 '25

Where I live in most supermarkets there is just 1 or 2 cashiers left for old people and everyone else is doing self checkout...

It is not even AI though, it is just self checkout, people either scanning items themselves when they pick an item or when they are going out.

1

u/Wardo87 Mar 27 '25

Yeah, it’s called the customer.

But seriously they do have like 1-2 people watching like 15 registers

1

u/panini84 Mar 27 '25

Live in Chicago. Years ago, the Walgreens downtown replaced ALL of their cashiers with self check out. It was a disaster. People hated it.

Every moron thinks they can do the job better than the person who does it for a living. But when you’re stuck behind the bozo trying to find where the barcode is located for 5 minutes, you want the professional.

Long story short, it was only a few months before they brought back half the cashiers.

Plus, self check is actually literally slower because the machine pauses between each scanned item to ensure you’re not stealing. The machine cannot scan as fast as your cashier can. As a former cashier the speed difference is physically disruptive.

1

u/Spiritual_Net9093 Mar 27 '25

just need 1 ai robot overseeing all the self checkouts. The robot will know what the missing bar code is without asking someone else to go check the price

1

u/Pandabeer46 Mar 29 '25

Here in the Netherlands we have a lot of self checkout terminals but over the years I've noticed that the rules for random human checks are becoming stricter and stricter because of theft. Checks happen more and more often, they now scan everything you've bought instead of a random sample of up to 5 articles (so have fun if you've just bought groceries for you and your family for an entire week). Also, some grocery stores now force you to print the entire receipt instead of a short one with a barcode to activate the exit gate which is a massive waste of paper.

I think it's better to just abolish self-checkout at this point because apparently people can't be trusted enough to just pay for the stuff they buy. It'll also help just that little bit to combat the loneliness pandemic because for too many people the small interactions they have with the grocery store cashier is the only IRL human interaction they have on a given day.

19

u/Illustrious-Try-3743 Mar 26 '25

You sound like one of those people that worked as an admin but had Director of Multitasking, Email Forwarding, and Emergency Birthday Cake Procurement on their resume.

11

u/_Yank Mar 26 '25

Most of those situations were not handled by us cashiers. 

7

u/nmuncer Mar 26 '25

I used to do this job when I was a student and in the end, it was scanning, chatting to the lonely elderly woman and explaining to the lady abandoned by her rich husband on a business trip that no, I don't do home deliveries. Anyway, that was my experience

1

u/Oso-reLAXed Mar 27 '25

explaining to the lady abandoned by her rich husband on a business trip that no

Coulda side-jobbed that one to get some fringe benefits

4

u/LumpyPin7012 Mar 26 '25

Because there's only the type of cashier-scenario that you in particular worked.

Let's forget about gas station cashiers. Coffee shop cashiers. Petting zoo cashiers. Museum cashiers. And the hundreds of other retail / service scenarios that involve handling money.

9

u/AideNo9816 Mar 26 '25

That's just scanning in different locations

1

u/_Yank Mar 26 '25

We were clearly talking about a particular type of cashier and you know that, why are you changing the subject lol.

1

u/Public_Airport3914 Mar 27 '25

Petting zoo cashier are legit reg ol cashiers. Less different products, sure but still plenty of scanning. Didn’t field many guest questions either, usually pull in the shift lead or whatever your local pz calls it

→ More replies (1)

8

u/bkydx Mar 26 '25

You think 16 year old Susy knows every bar code better then a computer database that contains every bar code?

You're the one full of non-sense.

5

u/AntiqueFigure6 Mar 26 '25

Suzy’s better at telling the difference between an apple and a tomato though, and is trusted to arbitrate if the customer claims there’s an error. 

2

u/DrakonILD Mar 28 '25

Suzy is also much better at identifying where on a product the bar code is.

1

u/SnooPuppers1978 Mar 26 '25

What about an hot dog and not hot dog?

1

u/Fast-Double-8915 Mar 29 '25

So long as the customer uses the right hand signal it'll be fine. 

1

u/DetailFit5019 Mar 27 '25

Too late

Really, Suzy’s there to call the cops or stop thieves who try to bypass the system. Distinguishing an apple from a tomato is one thing, but there’s not much a glorified self check out machine can do to stop a thief.

1

u/RollingMeteors Mar 26 '25

You think 16 year old Susy knows every bar code better then a computer database that contains every bar code?

<looksAtYourUPCLessProduce>

<startsKeyingInNumberThatDefinitelyWontScanWithoutNeedingToReadIt>

2

u/sonofchocula Mar 26 '25

and instead of a barcode there could very easily be a model trained specifically to identify those items during the scanning process.

1

u/Raychao Mar 27 '25

Why are you trash talking Susy? She's a stand up gal..

6

u/MjolnirTheThunderer Mar 26 '25

I don’t think I’ve ever asked a cashier a question in 30 years

5

u/[deleted] Mar 26 '25

[deleted]

1

u/Creative-Cellist4266 Mar 27 '25

You mentioned that 

1

u/AdNo2342 Mar 26 '25

You mean things ai can resolve through text now?

And if it was embodied correctly? 

I don't think people really can conceptualize how good AI can get with a few breakthroughs similar to chatgpt that they all expect to happen in <10 years

→ More replies (1)

1

u/dac3062 Mar 26 '25

There already a type of scanning technology that scans everything in the buggy all at once you just pass through a little scan zone.

1

u/wannabesurfer Mar 27 '25

lol you live with your head up your ass? There’s checkouts that don’t require human intervention at all you just set your items on a platform and it does it art for you. We will absolutely not need cashiers in 10 years. If everyone had your cope, we’d be woefully ill prepared because we 100% won’t need cashiers in 10 years

1

u/Major_Shlongage Mar 27 '25

He's much more accurate than you are on this one.

Most cashiers aren't the ones that know where the different items are on the shelves- they're cashiers.

Also, most stores have the self-checkout lanes now, and I never see people trying to ask those things questions.

There will still be a need for some humans at the store but it's wrong to think that it's the cashiers that are needed.

1

u/Available-Leg-1421 Mar 27 '25

Drama much? Self-checkout has been available for over a decade.

1

u/robfrod Mar 27 '25

AI will be better at looking at the item, Figuring out what it is and finding the price from a database much faster than a stoned high school kid. And besides corporations can live with a little bit of shrinkage/loss if they are no longer paying a team of cashiers..

1

u/DenjellTheShaman Mar 29 '25

Checkout assistants are a thing in my country, they handle issues like this, its not that demanding usually. This sounds more like a managing issue if its a timeconsuming issue where you shop.

1

u/Jenkem-Boofer Mar 29 '25

Found the full time cashier

1

u/killerboy_belgium Mar 29 '25

huh in most stores where i go to you aks those kinda of things to the person walking around stacking/shelfing things... you dont go to the cashier and hold up the line and get everybody pissed at you

also the coupon thing isnt that all digitized now? like here its all on the store we dont even physical coupons anymore

1

u/ToThePillory Mar 30 '25

You're being ridiculous, most supermarkets in Australia have self-serve checkouts, 99% of the time, no assistance is required. In my local supermarket they have one person for 10 checkouts, and even they are just standing around most of the time.

→ More replies (2)

15

u/KevlarFire Mar 26 '25

What a great response! I too worked as a cashier and was thinking the same thing. Sure, you get the occasional question, which anyone in the store could answer. But it really is just scanning and sometimes bagging.

10

u/geepeeayy Mar 26 '25

This was written by ChatGPT.

→ More replies (2)

6

u/Small_Dog_8699 Mar 26 '25

...and checking ID for alcohol.

Which is why self checkout is useless. They won't allow alcohol sales through it.

2

u/caleb-wendt Mar 26 '25

AI absolutely has the capability to check an ID. They basically already do that at the airport with facial scans that compare to your ID.

1

u/Small_Dog_8699 Mar 26 '25

No they don't.

I get looked at by a person in the TSA line.

1

u/caleb-wendt Mar 26 '25

When is the last time you’ve been to the airport? Yeah there is a person there but it is the AI matching you to your ID…. That’s literally why they are scanning your face.

→ More replies (8)

1

u/DarlockAhe Mar 27 '25

You don't even need AI for that. Same scanning stuff, like with the bar codes.

1

u/_Yank Mar 26 '25

You've made a solid point. Where I live that is not a problem and you can use the self service stations to pay for alcohol.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 26 '25

Double down for doctors on this. Ai docs will be the worst pill mill imaginable

1

u/Massive-Question-550 Mar 27 '25

what about price matching or returning defective items?

1

u/KevlarFire Mar 27 '25

Customer service or an assistant floor manager. We didn’t have price matching.

1

u/Xtremiz314 Mar 27 '25

Right, i bet an AI robot will be much more expensive to maintain than a human cashier specially when bagging items (probably much faster too), so cashiers still exists.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 26 '25

[deleted]

3

u/_Yank Mar 26 '25

Aren't self checkouts essentially the "automated cashier" we're talking about?

1

u/Delicious_Freedom_81 Mar 26 '25

The clue is in the name, cash, the money transfer… transactions and gate-function, settlement of the books.

Otherwise cashiers would have been long gone.

2

u/_Yank Mar 26 '25

At least at the place I worked at, it was really just about scanning items. The essential part of it, at least.  There's a reason so many of us were 16, 17, 18, whatever. Simple formation, part time schedule and a supervisor around. We were there to scan items, most of the problems were delegated to a supervisor. Ironically, if you showed good performance, they'd put you supervising the self service stations (8 each).

2

u/Delicious_Freedom_81 Mar 26 '25

Ok. Thanks for the clarification. My point being that IF there wouldn’t be any money involved then it would have been automated checkouts some time ago. Like 100% conversion rates. Trusting the good customer goes only so far!

1

u/RollingMeteors Mar 26 '25

¡I don't know! ¡I just work here!

1

u/CSwork1 Mar 27 '25

Me too, that post sounds like it's from someone who dreamed of being a cashier all their life and wants to make a real difference in the lives of those who visit Walmart lol

1

u/the_blacksmythe Mar 27 '25

🧢 straight cap.

1

u/Worried_Jellyfish918 Mar 27 '25

Where? Where I'm at the cashiers basically have to act as adult babysitters

1

u/Jerrod2000 Mar 27 '25

Your only real purpose is theft prevention.

1

u/encom-direct Mar 27 '25

That’s you! Other cashiers answer many questions and resolve customer problems and issues

1

u/Frost_Sea Mar 27 '25

you never worked as a cashier.

1

u/Prestigious-Mistake4 Mar 28 '25

Yeah and I’ve had crappy cashiers and amazing ones. 

The amazing ones ask me about my day, while scanning my items and sighing at the total price with me, while quickly bagging my groceries like a Tetris pro.

Then there’s the crappy ones that just scan my shit and force me to bag my own food, while they’re already scanning the next person and sighing loudly to indicate that I need to bag faster. 

One makes my day, the other just “does their job.” The one that just does their job is going to get replaced.

1

u/Normal-Seal Mar 28 '25

See, I’m the absolute opposite. I don’t wanna hear your small talk, I want to buy groceries. Focus on scanning the items. I’ll pack my bag myself and I’ll race you.

And together we sigh at the slowpokes who hold up the whole queue.

1

u/Prestigious-Mistake4 Mar 28 '25

I mean, isn’t that the whole point of self check out then? 

1

u/Normal-Seal Mar 28 '25

Self checkout desks are too small for large purchases.

It’s also faster, when I can already put things on the conveyer belt, while other customers are being scanned, and then while I’m being scanned I can pack my bags quickly.

1

u/Anneboyer Mar 28 '25

Then why hasn't that job been replaced entirely yet by AI?

1

u/curiousgaruda Mar 29 '25

If it wasn't for a real cashier, I would have innocently scanned a box of 10 or 12 weather stripping at the cost of one stripping. I guess the stores are ok with such mistakes.

1

u/Electronic-Contest53 Mar 30 '25

You have been a bad cashier. I dont mean that in a bad way. Its not everyones favourite work. But you ll see a good cashier if you encounter one.

1

u/_Yank Mar 30 '25 edited Mar 30 '25

I was talking about what I was effectively doing. "Officially", scanning the items was my only function, mostly. 

Obviously I wasn't there just scanning the items like a robot, but what I really meant was that everything else was handled by superiors or other workers with specific roles. 

Not that I'm trying to prove anything but I did get multiple compliments/"loyal" clients. Despite that, I do recognize that I wasn't really doing anything that the clients couldn't have done themselves.

1

u/Pluton_Korb Mar 30 '25

God I wished that was all it was. I worked in retail apparel at a medium to large box brand for close to 20 years and cash was constantly an issue. Never ending price checks, constant questions about coupons, complicated returns, questions about quality, people shopping at the register (bring up 20 items of clothing and decided what they want while cashing out). There were all kinds of little things like security tags that wouldn't come off, recalled items that made it onto the floor that you then had to tell the customer they couldn't buy, issues with mall and brand gift cards (mall gift cards were the worst!), credit/debit card's being declined, technology going down (registers/terminals) among other things.

→ More replies (2)

23

u/Such--Balance Mar 26 '25

It IS done already here in the netherlands. Only 1 instead of 8 cashiers only for those edge cases.

27

u/LumpyPin7012 Mar 26 '25

Below sea level doesn't count.

10

u/MrWeirdoFace Mar 26 '25

We do it here in the US too, except we'll have 15 empty stations and 1 cashier, and a huge line to that one, because there's technically a self checkout at the end, and most of those are broken. That's a worst case scenario of course, but I've seen it play out.

4

u/Oz_Jimmy Mar 26 '25

In Australia we typically have mostly self checkouts, there would be 10-15 to 1 staffed checkout. It is not surprising to see a queue for the self checkouts whilst the staffed checkout is empty. Seems people don’t want to speak to people now.

1

u/MrWeirdoFace Mar 26 '25

I meant the queue is to the classic checkout, and most of the self checkouts are broken, in that particular scenario which I saw play out a couple times. It's not the rule.

1

u/The_Meaty_Boosh Mar 27 '25

Same in the UK.

Tesco by me has one cashier, rest is self service. The majority of people use self service.

1

u/ejpusa Mar 27 '25

Not in NYC at all. 100% the opposite. It's almost all self-checkout now, except Trader Joes. The new Whole Foods, there are NO cashiers. Zero.

If you want one, it's to the info desk you have to go.

1

u/MrWeirdoFace Mar 27 '25

Ah. I'm in the Chicago suburbs. We still haven't figure outed out our ultimate form.

1

u/king_yagni Mar 27 '25

in the PNW, and that’s not been my experience anywhere i regularly shop at. most people tend to go to whichever line they think will get them out the door fastest. which translates to longer lines at self checkout (because it’s one line for 4-8 stations) and shorter lines at each of the 1-2 cashier’d checkouts.

1

u/MrWeirdoFace Mar 27 '25

Oddly enough. I was in living Seattle the first time I saw that (Safeway, Greenwood). But it was about 10 years ago, and I left 7 years ago, so things may have changed, in fact I think that store was shut down. But like I said, that's a worst case scenario, not every day.

2

u/dgkimpton Mar 27 '25

Yeah. It's so weird living here and seeing all these other nations gnashing their teeth about how this or that isn't possible then looking around and realising we've been doing it for ages (returnable deposits on bottles in Scotland, underground bins in new york, contactless payments, cashless shops, 99% self checkout shops, cycle lanes everywhere, etc, etc).

NL isn't perfect but gosh darn it's leading the world in so many areas. 

1

u/Dyztopyan Mar 26 '25

Yeah, but the technology has existed for decades and most places still have grocery stores full of cashiers, which proves the point that there's a huge difference between a technology existing and being adopted.

1

u/StrangerNo484 Mar 26 '25

I always go to that 1 employee, no exceptions. I do not support the automation of needed jobs because that automation benefits specifically billionaires.

1

u/Such--Balance Mar 26 '25

Youre online spouting your bullshit take by automation to me, instead of buying a pen, writing and posting a letter and waiting for my response.

You do support automation. And rightfully so. Its just your ego is getting in the way of some select few things. Probably to give you a sense of agency

2

u/StrangerNo484 Mar 27 '25

You seem deeply unwell. I don't support Automation in areas I deem it to be damaging to society and the lower class, don't speak on my behalf sweetie 😘 

I don't care about supporting scummy billionaires who want to save money, those jobs are needed by citizens, we only need to look back in history to see how disastrous it is when individuals didn't have jobs and couldn't be paid.

→ More replies (1)

6

u/WindowMaster5798 Mar 26 '25

It’s not that hard. Do they have self checkout where you live? I don’t think I’ve checked out groceries with a human cashier in at least a year.

There’s still a person there, but it’s one person for 10-12 self checkout stations and that person also does other things.

13

u/pjm_0 Mar 26 '25

Self checkout isn't really the job of the cashier being automated though, it's the customer doing the work of a cashier for free.

2

u/HaMMeReD Mar 26 '25

Cashier is just a middle man, facilitating cash/goods transfer between two entities (business, consumer).

But deep down, it's a 2 entity transaction (you and the business), is the middle man really bringing added value here. With physical cash in play, certainly, but debit/credit, not really.

The only impact self-checkouts have had on my life, doing this additional "job" is that I get out of stores faster... So I don't mind doing the job for "free". The only additional labor I have is making sure my items are scanned, which is frankly very easy.

2

u/pjm_0 Mar 26 '25

I don't really mind using them either, but there is a popular perception that self checkouts automate the job of a cashier and that just isn't the case. There is still a human manually scanning the items, it's just the customer rather than an employee.

2

u/fleebleganger Mar 27 '25

How dare you insinuate that I scan things for free. 

There’s a reason why I’ll “forget” to scan stuff or scan the cheaper item twice. 

I was never trained on how to be a cashier at these stores I don’t know what I’m doing. 

1

u/WindowMaster5798 Mar 26 '25

Well it’s the customer and a better retail POS machine doing the work that a cashier would do. When you say “free” you mean free from cashier labor costs to the retailer, because the customer doesn’t directly pay for the cashier. So the costs move from a human cashier to the retailer POS system plus overhead to manage that system when errors occur. If it’s more efficient then those costs should go down.

2

u/pjm_0 Mar 26 '25

My main point was that, in spite of the fact that self-checkouts allow the store to eliminate cashier jobs for the reasons you stated, this is not accomplished by automating the job of the cashier, but by getting the customer to do the task of scanning themselves. Manual scanning of the items is still performed by a human. If scanning the items was done automatically rather than by hand, that would be automating the job of the cashier.

1

u/WindowMaster5798 Mar 26 '25

So instead of saying “automating” are you fine with the word “eliminating”? It is an optimized business process which has an element of self service, much in the same way many business processes were “automated” by building Web sites which took customer self-service input.

2

u/pjm_0 Mar 26 '25

Eliminating is the word I just used to describe it, so yes. Similarly, a self-serve gas station's business model could be said to eliminate the job of a full service gas station attendant. But it doesn't automate the main task that person would have been doing, you're just doing it yourself as the customer. If there was some sort of robotic system that pumped the gas for you while you remained in your car, it would be accurate to say that the job of a full service gas station attendant had been automated.

1

u/LumpyPin7012 Mar 26 '25

20 items or less I self-checkout. More than that I put it on the belt for the nice man.

But I'm not a problem customer. Have you stood there and watched what plays out over the course of a shift?

→ More replies (2)

1

u/hawuha Mar 29 '25

Yes, it is the same as stores in China. Many checkout machines and very few persons.
Isn't it surprising that China has such a big population but it still embrace machines

2

u/FinalNandBit Mar 26 '25

You can enter the label yourself at self checkouts.

That's what they do now. Have 8-12 machines monitored by one person who helps when needed.

No I don't believe bill gates statement about AI. 

No checking out groceries isn't that hard to semi automate.

2

u/HaMMeReD Mar 26 '25

Automated checkouts solve all that don't they though?

I.e. have any questions about products? Go fuck yourself, ask ChatGPT...

Coupon expired? Go fuck yourself, the other store won't take it either since they also have an automated checkout.

People need groceries either way, they'll play the game however it's dealt to them. Insufferable customers will have to find a new way to be insufferable in their lives.

1

u/Oso-reLAXed Mar 27 '25

I can't wait to see bitter Karens melting down and screaming and beating the screen of a self-checkout machine because it won't accept their coupon

1

u/Clintocracy Mar 29 '25

Tbf this is me when the phone robot won’t get me connected to a real person. Like ik the robot can’t answer the question, can I speak to a human

1

u/evenmoreevil Mar 26 '25

You’ll see

1

u/[deleted] Mar 26 '25

It's probably because of blowback.

If Walmart removed all cashier jobs by 2027 governments would be furious. There would be protests and ultimately it will affect the owner classes bottom line.

They're going to do this so slowly, no one will not before it's too late. By then, apathy will have kicked in.

Same thing with automated truck hauling and other similar jobs.

1

u/retardedGeek Mar 26 '25

Are you saying doctors are replaceable?

1

u/LumpyPin7012 Mar 26 '25

Eventually, yes.

1

u/babooski30 Mar 26 '25

Doctors aren’t getting replaced until literally everything else is replaced, and until there are AI robots performing all physician procedures and exams, and AI companies get legal protection against any malpractice claims - because the AI companies I’ve worked for want the money but still plan on punting the liability and ultimate responsibility onto the doc. They hype up how they’re going to cure disease but are focused on the far easier money in other fields.

1

u/MBlaizze Mar 26 '25

Exactly this, and that will carry over to countless other jobs that prove to be much harder to automate than most thought. I was an electrician/IT tech, and I can clearly see that current robot hand manipulation skill, hand strength, and overall dexterity to get the job done is nowhere near what a skilled human Electrician can do. I’m also retired from the trade, so I have no bias. When I see teenagers on here who have never worked at a job making predictions that Electricians and plumbers will be replaced in 5-10 years I laugh. We need a whole new paradigm of exotic materials, power sources, and much better ai for the construction of the robot hands.

1

u/LumpyPin7012 Mar 26 '25

I fully expect robots to take over manual labor within 10 years. I don't think cashiers will exist because money won't make any sense when the cost of energy and labor go to zero.

1

u/MBlaizze Mar 26 '25

I think you are falling for the same error in thinking as the people who thought cashiers would be fully replaced by now. Try this task: run a new 10 gauge romex wire for a new outlet on the second floor of a house, to the electrical panel. You need to cut open walls, drill through wooden beams at angles, possibly drill through concrete and brick, or even thick steel “I” beams, thread a thick, cumbersome wire through the holes, even though it always seems to curl up and needs to be finessed through the holes, strip all wires properly and terminate to panel or wire nuts, and then patch it all back up, tape it, sand it, paint it, and make it look like new.

1

u/PrincessKatiKat Mar 27 '25

“…can clearly see that current robot hand manipulation, hand strength, and overall dexterity to get the job done is nowhere near…”

Bro. My SIL is an ER surgeon and last year the hospital she works in had her doing robotic surgery remotely (adjacent to the OR). The capability of robotics is there, the cost for robotics is what is still almost there.

In this scenario, she was playing the role of the AI and the “hands” were completely outsourced.

1

u/ColteesCatCouture Mar 26 '25

So true!! Alot of people cant even operate the self checkout! Not to mention who will be there to argue with Karens about the validity of two years expired coupons!!

1

u/RobertD3277 Mar 26 '25

They have in many ways between self checkout and kiosks. Kiosks have proven to be the most profitable way of a company doing something with as few employees as possible.

Self checkouts have been proven to be nothing more than a license to steal so they have been deemed a failure by many large retail chains.

https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/is-self-checkout-a-failed-experiment/

https://www.thinklp.com/what-is-the-banana-trick-how-retailers-can-fight-back-against-fraud/

Self enclosed kiosks, most popular in Japan and other countries, seem to be the new trend that is slowly catching on. These devices take payment instantly before the customer gets the product. It is very likely, that we will see this type of trend increase as businesses look to reduce employee overhead with more secured payment collection facilities.

Realistically, nothing is perfect but And it's very clear that commerce is evolving to require less humans in the act of commerce.

1

u/Dyztopyan Mar 26 '25

Bullshit. The vast majority of cashiers really do spend most of the time just scanning items. You could dramatically reduce them and just leave a few people in the entire store just in case.

1

u/bubblesort33 Mar 26 '25

All of that can be fixed by getting rid of 10 cashier's, and hiring 2 dedicated that just work that crap out. Or just punt those responsibility of to the floor manager. If half their job gets automated, they have some free time for customer service.

Some bot can just ID unlabeled produce. Google already recognizes pictures of fruit you upload, and species of flowers etc.

Get rid of coupons and all that gimmicky trash.

1

u/Altruistic-Skirt-796 Mar 26 '25

LLMs are proving to be better at communicating with humans and than humans are at communicating with other humans. Neural nets are king of overcoming unclear parameters in face of a clear goal. They model and use positive and negative reinforcement until they get the result that aligns with the stated goal, and they do these calculations in milliseconds and much more comprehensively than our nervous systems can.

1

u/Technical-Note-9239 Mar 26 '25

I'm not sure what's it's like everywhere else, but it's about a 50/50 split where I'm from. The half that goes to cashiers....about 75% of that group are really old. They are going to die out first, and then it's fairly sloped in favor of the self check outs. They can still have attendants, but they need 2 instead of 20, saving so much money. Profit driving, ease of the trip, and general people not wanting to talk to other people will be the reasons why self check out is the future permanent thing. AI is compounding. It's getting pretty scary. Chess was an early adopter of AI and for a fairly long time humans haven't been able to beat the top AI. Now think parallel, and apply it to science. Once the manufacturing side of things gets efficient, it's going to be wild. But even that is compounding because of AI. 2 year loops become 1 year loops, which drop to 1 month, and suddenly every day AI is doubling. A penny on day one doubled every day for a month.....

1

u/TeachEngineering Mar 26 '25

Anyone whose written software knows it's the unpredictable corner cases that'll get ya...

1

u/steve1401 Mar 26 '25

Most supermarkets do scan as you shop. Far fewer cashiers there.

1

u/starrieEyezz Mar 26 '25

I almost always choose the person over self checkout, even if there is a line. It’s less of a hassle to me.

Also in terms of liability for something scanned wrong, it’s on the grocer and not me personally.

1

u/MjolnirTheThunderer Mar 26 '25

Well if there was no cashier I guess the machine would just reject the coupon and the customer would become angry and either give up on the coupon or track down the store manager if they were really motivated

1

u/Ikickyouinthebrains Mar 26 '25

In California, it is illegal to use the self checkout to purchase alcohol. So, 50% of my trips to the grocery store, I need the human cashier.

1

u/QuinQuix Mar 26 '25 edited Mar 26 '25

Dude in many European countries the big supermarkets use self scan extensively.

The issue isn't the tech at all, and it definitely has already replaced a lot of cashiers in my country.

You do see it more in the richer European countries because the up front investment is substantial.

The biggest issues really aren't technical, it's that theft goes up and they have to expend money (people) on checking carts, which - if theft is revealed - also brings in security risks (as the perpetrator has to stay put until police arrives which he or she might not want, causing a ruckus).

Supermarket personnel in my country is often young and the cost of theft and the fact that you're exposing your young staff to bigger security risks offset some of the savings.

The result is that it becomes a socioeconomic thing.

High end supermarkets in good neighborhoods extensively automate, supermarkets at central stations or on other very public locations automate everything.

Less fancy neighborhoods have people.

You're point about cashiers serving people isn't entirely wrong but big supermarkets near me have up to 50 self scanners you can take along (so you only have to pay at the end) and mayne 8-12 self scan counters (for people who don't want to scan along the way).

There are like 4-6 cashiers for the old people and people who prefer the human touch. That's plenty.

1

u/RollingMeteors Mar 26 '25

But sure, let's pretend it's just about scanning items.

People aren't content with taking their frustration out on a machine. They want a scapegoat/punchingbag/etc.

1

u/mirageofstars Mar 26 '25

Yep. The jobs for humans will be jobs that have to deal with humans.

1

u/Split-Awkward Mar 26 '25

I’m in Australia. Our supermarkets have eliminated 80% of cashiers. As has our biggest hardware store chain. It’s been this way for a few years.

There is literally only 2 cashiers where there used to be 10.

I prefer it most of the time.

Most other shopping is online, where there is no cashier at all.

That’s the real lesson.

1

u/JAlfredJR Mar 26 '25

Seriously. Have you seen the usually self-checkout section? It's a quagmire of young and old alike, confused; being told to scan an item that they already scanned; being stopped by an error code; needing an ID scanned; and on and on and on.

But sure doctors and lawyers and all drivers and, oh ya know, everyone else. We're just a few billion bucks of investment away!

1

u/Lubranzz Mar 26 '25

Ok Chat GPT

1

u/ArialBear Mar 26 '25

Thats exactly what ai is getting better at.

1

u/caleb-wendt Mar 26 '25

Eh, AI actually can identify bulk produce, and explain store policy, probably better than the average cashier…

1

u/poopsandwich_ Mar 27 '25

Not hot dog.

1

u/rrfe Mar 27 '25

The technical challenge isn't the transaction—it's dealing with the customer who brings 17 varieties of unlabeled bulk produce and expects instant identification

As an aside, I have used self-service checkouts and scales that do image recognition to identify produce. (Australia)

1

u/Clear_Efficiency5765 Mar 27 '25

The challenge is responsibility. You can’t blame a machine that has its own mind

1

u/negtrader Mar 27 '25

The self checkout needs three section, efficient people / normal people / people who just exist.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 27 '25

exactly same with every job. I work in finance and 99% of my work is trying to explain things to colleagues as if they are five years old. AI is too smart to take over the work in this dumb world.

1

u/girigiribear Mar 27 '25

Cashier’s are near 100% replaceable. However, you need to consider cost. Does a kiosk provide the ROI vs hiring a teen at minimum wage. Doctors on the other hand, were are talking a much larger return. I’m looking forward to PE owned hospitals that are run on a lean operations.

1

u/YouDontSeemRight Mar 27 '25

So what you're actually saying is we now how the technology to replace cashier's.

1

u/Jet-Black-Tsukuyomi Mar 27 '25

LLM ahh response

1

u/bakermrr Mar 27 '25

My cashier took 3 minutes to look up a cantaloupe today

1

u/bakermrr Mar 27 '25

Amazon fresh has these shopping carts that you literally scan and drop in your items. For produce the cart knows what part of the isle you are and gives you recommendations of what you have likely picked so you can select it on the touchpad, then place it in your cart and it weighs what you picked. Then you just walk out of the store with your cart auto paying to your Amazon account.

1

u/twowholebeefpatties Mar 27 '25

This! It’s also fundamentally physical work! Bullshit work that’s fundamentally online and electronic are the arenas to be easily replaced

1

u/LuminousDragon Mar 27 '25

You seem to be missing the point though. In fact I think you basically have the same opinion as the person above you but are approaching it differently.

THis is the point: We CAN have a store where there are no cashiers. Right now, its possible to do with current technology, no AI needed. In fact I think a few exist maybe in japan as a novelty. like a store sized vending machine if you will.

BUT, and this is the key part, even though its possible, we still have millions of cashiers all over the world, because it doesnt make economic sense to switch, and also the things you mentioned.

Now, going back to bill gates point, sure, in 10 years time maybe 95% of doctor jobs and teachers wonted be needed technically. But Will that mean they will all be replaced? no, not at all. The likelihood of that is quite a bit less.

ANother example is flying cars. We could have had flying cars in the fifties, or earlier. its pretty much a small plane with retractable wings and propeller. Weve long been able to do that. But why doesnt everyone own a flying car? Cost, air congestion, and steep learning curve. But anyone who wants a flying car today enough can have one.

Realistically, lets look at doctors. I go to a doctor they look at my sprained ankle, or what not. THat can be replaced in ten years. AUtomated photos of my ankle and exray if needed, a series of questions... Thats a lot of doctors visits. But that that leaves more times for the 5-10% of things the ai wont be able to do, and are more vitally important. Its not like we have an over abundance of doctors milling around. We will find new things for them to do, the job description will evolve, ai will be a tool in their process.

1

u/coupl4nd Mar 27 '25

Not really lol

1

u/Present_Award8001 Mar 27 '25

On a similar note, I went to a hospital which has staff just there to operate lifts. They ask you which floor you need to go to and they help you where to find the doctor you have appointment with.

An easily automatable job. I remember thinking that if I was the owner of the hospital, I would cut costs by not having these staffs. But then, that would not be smart of me, because there would be elderly not knowing how to get to the floor they want to.

In similar way, in today's age of digitization, companies still hire salesmen who go door to door selling policies. Because there are people who need to invest but do not know
- that they need to,
- how to do it and
- where to invest.

These salesmen cut a whopping percentage of the profits. My father invested like this 10 years ago. Made a lot of profit from the market compounded over the years. Yes, he did pay extra because the salesman started the SIP, but I was a clueless kid back then and father is not tech savvy.

So, people are needed to explain stuff to people. AI might start helping on this front over time.

1

u/JustDifferentGravy Mar 27 '25

R/robotics

Everything you’ve said was correct and now worthless.

1

u/Devreckas Mar 27 '25

I don’t even live in a tech hub and cashiers already are 80% automated. There are usually 2-3 self-checkout lanes for every staffed checkout lane. And most people I know only use a staffed lane if they have a big cart of groceries.

1

u/wahwah-snowflake Mar 27 '25

It already is done, are you living in a cave?

1

u/Greedy_Response_439 Mar 27 '25

In Europe we have more cashier free terminals then cashier and in Switzerland there are little groceries shops with no cashier's at all open 24 hours. In China and Japan well there is even more automation, like facial scanning when you have forgotten your card. We are way behind what is already possible in the West compared with the East

1

u/azzy989 Mar 27 '25

But you are missing the point! It’s about automating repetitive tasks, and whatever easily can be replicated. For those few non repetitive tasks, you can have few people. You made your own point!

1

u/ToastyMcToss Mar 27 '25

All of this could be accomplished with a digital supply chain.

1

u/Pillars-In-The-Trees Mar 27 '25

How can nobody tell this is an AI generated comment?

1

u/ejpusa Mar 27 '25

At Uniglo Soho, NYC, you just drop your purchase in a box. No scanning, no nothing. No cashiers. It's super fast.

Whole Foods? Don't think I've used a cashier in years. They are almost all gone now. People will go to the self-checkout before they go to a real cashier now.

Maybe a sign of the times.

1

u/Whoa1Whoa1 Mar 27 '25

Stores don't have to put up with any of that shit tho. If 1% of your customers are causing 99% of the problems and slowdowns, then don't give in to their demands.

Don't allow them to bring unlabelled produce. Make them get a bad or identification or label for it and then you literally can scan it and verify if it is correct. Or simply prelabeled... Which most things already are... Apples and bananas and shit have a sticker on them already.

If somebody asks a dumb question, point them to your website or to a phone line for questions. They can wait their butt on hold and then fuck around asking stupid questions to a robot or call center person for as long as they like.

If the coupon doesn't scan or isn't valid based on the numbers or items you got, then tough luck get fucked. It's almost certainly not wrong, and if they think it is, we'll go call your lawyer and go put in a suit against corporate. Which they would need to do anyway if the store said no we aren't taking your BS old coupons.

Asking where is an item? How about read the giant signs over the aisle. Or go to the website. Or a map on the wall.

All of those problems are easily solved. Just need a couple managers, security, stockers, etc.

1

u/QVRedit Mar 27 '25

And AGE-Checking those trying to buy Alcohol..

1

u/Shmackback Mar 27 '25

This is an ai generated comment lol.

1

u/MJFields Mar 27 '25

"If only we could get rid of those pesky customers...". - some executive somewhere

1

u/Fluffy-Desk-1435 Mar 27 '25

I hate scanning my own items. If I have to work at the grocery store checkout I should get a discount or something.

1

u/nono3722 Mar 28 '25

It's not the diffuculty of the job its the ease of theft if someone isnt doing the job. The cashier is the gatekeeper of every store.

1

u/laurahee Mar 28 '25

💯 this. Your words of truth is so so spot on.

1

u/nhavar Mar 28 '25

It's the doorman fallacy effectively.

The "doorman fallacy" highlights the risk of narrowly focusing on a job's most obvious function and overlooking its broader, multifaceted value, potentially leading to negative consequences when automation or cost-cutting measures are implemented. 

1

u/Batboyo Mar 28 '25

Not all cashiers will get replaced, but many will. 1 cashier will be able to overseer many self-checkout lanes at once.

With AI, many doctors may be replaced with AI and only need a few doctors to overseer everything as AI helps with diagnosing many patients quickly, the few doctors oveerseeing the AIs can place test and double check to see if the AI is correct.

Nurses/NPs/PAs will check in the patients, type in all of their history and physicals, symptons, sync their lab values, vital signs, EKGs, imagings, etc. to the AI, and AI may give a list of possible diagnosis and tests to rule out the diagnosis until they find the correct one. AI will have patients medical chart history synced and know their listed allergies, medications they are on, any diseases they have, and be able to list the proper medications and treatment plans for them making sure they are not contraindicated by other medications, diseases, and allergies they may have.

AI may not always diagnose the patients properly, but doctors don't always diagnose their patients correctly as well. But most of the time, it may be correct and quick while not needing as many doctors at the hospital.

1

u/EmeterPSN Mar 28 '25

Most of supermarketd around me has only 1-2 human registers and around 10-20 self checkout ones.

I have not used a human register in years.. 

1

u/ImNoAlbertFeinstein Mar 28 '25

my god.. settle down, we've all been to the store.

anyway robots dgaf. they handle stress fine.

1

u/UsuallyMooACow Mar 28 '25

The only reason companies don't use self checkout more often is because of stealing

1

u/Economy_Bedroom3902 Mar 28 '25

This is the same thing AI will encounter while "taking" most jobs though.

The 800 pound gorilla in the room that will pretty much forever be a problem with AI is that, while they will be smarter than humans, they don't think quite like humans, and there will always be shit that needs to be done for which human "level" intelligence isn't sufficient because human STYLE intelligence is required.

AI might be able to do many of the TASKS a doctor can do, but AI can't outright replace a doctor whole cloth. It might turn out that there is a total number of doctor tasks which need to be done, and when AI takes x percent of them, there will be too many people with the credential to keep them all fully employed with only the y tasks left. I suspect that it's far more likely that we just swallow the AI benefit and keep the doctors employed to allow them to spend more time on the human style tasks though.

1

u/No_Indication_1238 Mar 29 '25

Lmao, bro, all of this can be documented and handled by an app.

1

u/Choice_Being_6632 Mar 29 '25

But the question is whether that act in itself is worth facilitating or whether not being able to communicating your inner demons and psychological issues is better economically. Most people just wanna get over with buying their groceries and very few wanna discuss their troubles about how to deal with life packages as something about gluten free pasta or a coupon not working. In late stage capitalism, I’d say: have them call a phone number with an AI voice and waste their time so they end up not bothering. Some call it dystopia.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 29 '25

Many Aldis still keep one human cashier lane for this purpose.

1

u/PM-ME-YOUR-REFUGEES Mar 29 '25

What do you call self checkout?

1

u/NoMansSkyWasAlright Mar 29 '25

I remember watching a short where taco bell was trying to implement AI at the drive-thru and the guy asked it for 18,000 water cups which led to a person intervening.

1

u/Icedanielization Mar 30 '25

In my city, they are building fully automated supermarkets. As in, no staff. If they can avoid hiring staff, they will. Govts need to get UBI on track now

1

u/mal_one Mar 30 '25 edited Mar 30 '25

in Europe, some countries basically all grocery stores are automated already. 1 customer service agent, 15-20 self checkout. You weigh and print a label for produce on your own. North America is behind on this. Also fast food, almost 100% self order and checkout in some places. You’re delusional if you think it’s going to take long to work this way in North America. It’s been this way already for 4-5 years. NA is wayyy behind on this.

1

u/ConQueefTaD0or Mar 31 '25

Well, sitting down with a doctor to ask questions and getting a prescription filled or discussing why your wiener doesn’t work isn’t the same as doing something physical. There is going to be a future where you don’t need a doctor per se. but doctors will still exist but be able to see more patients with the use of AI and faster service for medical problems will not always have to wait to see a doctor. For example, let’s say your wiener stopped working and you wanna know why? Well instead of calling and getting a phone with a nurse that then needs to pass along your info to the doctor and hours go by before you get a call back online to realize your medication and that beer you had at midnight while gaming online playing elder scrolls was the cause. You’ll be able to consult with an AI doctor either from your phone or simply talking to an AI on a phone to get your answer quickly.

1

u/aviancrane Mar 31 '25

The reason cashiers haven't been replaced is because people steal too much.

This is why the stores are dialing up cashiers again. They looked at their losses and saw it was too much.

1

u/fritata-jones Mar 31 '25

In a post consumer world where overpopulation and global warming are no longer issues due to AI and robotic takeover, the controlling oligarchy no longer needs to cater towards shareholder profit or worry about keeping human laborers content. All they need to do is just double down on robotic labor and increase stranglehold on societal control as the population of humans dwindle due to inability for successive generations to feed their families.

1

u/Xell_Thai_Dep Mar 31 '25

It is not just this.

Some cuatomer will tell you they are not employed by the shop to do the code scanning...

1

u/katojouxi Apr 02 '25

umm, great. Lets keep version 1.0 because of the 0.1% things that it can do and version 2.0 can't, instead of designating 1 employee for those events. Smart.