AI scares a lot of people: Now Jeff Bezos has revealed which employees can never be replaced by AI: inventors and individuals with great inventiveness.
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, stated at the Italian Tech Week that in the age of AI, one type of employee remains irreplaceable: people with a genuine inventor mindset, who can creatively solve problems and combine new ideas.
He supports his claim with anecdotes about his grandfather, his own role as an “inventor” at Amazon, and insights that Amazon specifically looks for employees with exactly such skills.
Bezos’ grandfather as a great role model for inventiveness
At the Italian Tech Week, the Amazon founder reported that his grandfather was able to solve any problem on his ranch in Texas by himself, without relying on outside help. He recounted:
He bought a bulldozer for about $5,000 because it was completely broken. We spent an entire summer repairing it. To get the transmission out, we had to build our own crane. And that’s why he had incredible adaptability. He believed he could solve any problem. And I watched him do it.
He describes himself as an “inventor” who generates many ideas in a short time and used to specifically ask candidates about something they have invented to identify inventive spirit:
When I interview candidates, I ask them to give me an example of something they have invented. You have to select people who enjoy inventing and thinking innovatively.
It’s not about individuals having patents or other inventions. Rather, it is about inventing practical new processes, ideas, and connections that did not exist before and which make things easier.
Jeff Bezos also talks about space during the Italian Tech Week. He believes that soon millions of people will live in space. They wouldn’t have to, because robots are much cheaper. And robotics has made tremendous progress in recent years: Jeff Bezos expects that soon millions of people will live in space, even though they are not needed up there
