Amazon’s 75% Automation Goal Revealed in Leaked Documents, Highlighting Push for Advanced Robotics

A new report from The New York Times, based on a cache of internal Amazon strategy documents, has revealed the stunning scale of the e-commerce giant's automation plans. The documents reportedly outline an ultimate goal to automate 75% of the company's operations, a move that executives believe could allow it to "avoid hiring" more than 600,000 workers by 2033 while doubling the number of products it sells.

The report, published Tuesday, provides a rare, data-driven look at the economic and strategic calculations driving one of the largest automation pushes in modern history. According to the Times, Amazon's automation team projects these efforts could save the company 30 cents on every item it processes.

This aggressive automation strategy helps contextualize Amazon's recent and significant research into advanced AI and humanoid robotics, which Humanoids Daily has been tracking closely.

The 'Shreveport Model'

The NYT report details how Amazon is already implementing the current generation of this strategy. A facility in Shreveport, Louisiana, which opened last year, is described as the "template for future robotic fulfillment centers."

The facility, which employs a thousand robots, allegedly requires 25% fewer human workers than a non-automated warehouse. Documents reportedly project it will employ half as many workers next year as more systems are introduced. Amazon's plan, according to the Times, is to replicate this Shreveport design in approximately 40 more facilities by the end of 2027 and to retrofit existing warehouses, such as one in Stone Mountain, Georgia.

From 'Cobots' to Humanoids

While today's "Shreveport model" relies heavily on conveyance, robotic sorters, and mobile robots (like the Kiva systems that move shelves), achieving a 75% automation rate will require solving far more complex problems. Tasks like grasping diverse objects, complex packing, and navigating unstructured spaces—all still largely handled by humans—remain the next major frontier.

This is precisely where Amazon's humanoid robotics research becomes critical. The 75% goal provides the clear business imperative for the company's deep investments in bipedal robots and the AI to run them.

As we've covered, Amazon has been quietly building a team to develop humanoid robots for its warehouses and beyond. The challenge has never been just hardware, but creating a "generalist" AI brain. This explains the company's focus on foundational AI models for robotics, such as:

• OmniRetarget: A method to teach humanoid robots complex, whole-body skills by observing physical interactions.
• ResMimic: A system that combines general-purpose AI "common sense" with high-precision skills for delicate object manipulation.

These AI research projects are not academic exercises; they appear to be the core building blocks for the next wave of automation needed to get from the "Shreveport model" to the 75% goal. This ambition may even extend beyond the fulfillment center, with reports suggesting Amazon is exploring humanoids for deliveries.

'Controlling the Narrative'

The NYT report also sheds light on Amazon's awareness of the public and internal perceptions of this transition. Internal documents reportedly advise on language, suggesting executives "control the narrative" by avoiding terms like "automation" and "A.I." Instead, employees are encouraged to use "advanced technology" or to replace the word "robot" with "cobot," a term that implies human-robot collaboration.

The documents also show the company has considered plans to "mitigate the fallout in communities that may lose jobs" by increasing participation in local events.

Amazon, in a statement to the Times, said the documents were "incomplete" and reflected the viewpoint of only one group within the company, noting that it still plans to hire 250,000 people for the upcoming holiday season.

For observers of the robotics industry, the NYT report provides the missing strategic "why" behind Amazon's accelerating R&D. The 75% automation target is a clear signal that the company views advanced, intelligent, and humanoid robotics not as a potential future, but as a core business imperative for the next decade.