Richard Liu Qiangdong, founder and chairman of major Chinese e-commerce company JD.com, predicted that robots will inevitably replace couriers; he said that JD.com will train its 700,000 couriers to engage in robot maintenance and repair work.
According to Hong Kong’s Sing Tao Daily on Tuesday, Liu made the above prediction during a speech at the 2026 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) China Business Leaders Forum, and emphasized that he does not want the company’s 700,000 couriers to lose their livelihoods, so they will be trained to learn robot maintenance and repair skills.
The report quotes him as saying, “We have 700,000 blue-collar workers. In the future, it will all be robots delivering packages. Sooner or later, there will simply be no need for couriers. But without jobs, our 700,000 brothers will have no food, no work.”
He stated that for this reason, JD.com has put forward a “Nirvana Plan,” signing agreements with 124 schools in mainland China, hoping to send JD’s 700,000 couriers and other blue-collar workers to technical training at these schools so they can repair and service robots in the future, in response to the impact of AI (artificial intelligence) and technological development.
He said, “In this way, we will make blue-collar workers into white-collar workers, letting them work in offices instead, without having to work outside in the wind and rain, not having to work so hard.”
Liu Qiangdong emphasized that businesses introducing new technology should make people’s lives better and their work more interesting, rather than using technology to deprive people of their job rights.