At the 2026 APEC CEO Summit China Forum held today, JD.com founder and Chairman of the Board, Liu Qiangdong, revealed that the company has recently initiated an internal "Nirvana Plan." This initiative aims to send the company's existing workforce of 700,000 logistics couriers and other blue-collar employees to technical schools for training, to help them adapt to the impact of AI and technological advancements.
Liu Qiangdong stated that in the future, deliveries will be handled entirely by robots, eliminating the need for human couriers. However, he emphasized that the company does not want its 700,000-strong workforce to be left without livelihoods or jobs. Consequently, JD.com has partnered with 120 schools across the country to send these employees for training, enabling them to perform maintenance and upkeep on the delivery robots in the future.
Liu Qiangdong explained that machines can malfunction, and those malfunctions will still require human technicians to repair. This approach effectively transitions blue-collar workers into white-collar roles, allowing them to work in office environments, free from the hardships of working outdoors in all weather conditions. He expressed that when a company develops new technologies, its goal should be to make human life better and work more interesting, rather than allowing technology to strip away people's fundamental right to employment.
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