Jeff Bezos predicts AI will create labor shortage, contradicting widespread job displacement fears

AI will lead to labour shortages, Bezos says in optimistic talk

PARIS, June 17 (Reuters) - Artificial Intelligence will lead to labour shortages, not the replacement of humans, Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tab founder Jeff Bezos predicted in a highly optimistic appearance at the VivaTech technology conference in Paris on Wednesday. Bezos put forward a rosy vision of how technology will help humanity, speaking about projects including his space venture Blue ⁠Origin and his new AI startup Prometheus, which is aimed at speeding up physical manufacturing. "I know there's a lot of concern that many people have, including many smart people, that AI is going to make humans redundant and so on," Bezos said. "I totally disagree with this point of view. And I think, in fact, AI is going to create a labor shortage." Half of Americans fear the rise of AI could put them or someone in their household out of work, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found this month. Bezos, the world's fourth-richest person with a net worth around $250 billion, argued that people have "endless" things ⁠to do, and are currently limited by barriers that he said AI would lower. One goal of space exploration is to move polluting industries off Earth, said Bezos, whose Blue Origin aims to compete with trillionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX (SPCX.O), opens new tab in rockets. "If space travel gets reliable enough and inexpensive enough, and we can get materials from ⁠asteroids and near-Earth objects and the moon, then this garden planet can be returned to its pre-Industrial Revolution state," Bezos said. Appearing together with Bezos was Blue Origin CEO David Limp, who said reconstruction of the firm's ⁠launch pad for New Glenn rockets has begun in Florida following a dramatic explosion in May. Musk has also put forward a lofty vision for space ahead of last week's SpaceX IPO, including plans ⁠to create cities on the moon and Mars. In an interview with JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon last week, he talked about firing AI data centres into space and having vacations on the moon. Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro, Toby Sterling and Louise Heavens Editing by Peter Graff Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Jeff Bezos says AI will create more jobs at VivaTech Paris

AI will lead to more need for workers rather than make people redundant, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos predicted during an appearance at a tech conference in Paris. Bezos pushed back against growing concerns that AI will replace large numbers of workers. Instead he argued that the tech will unlock new opportunities and increase demand for human labour. This is in contradiction to some other tech and political figures - including former UK prime minister Rishi Sunak, now an adviser to Microsoft and AI firm Anthropic, who recently said AI was having an impact on young people's job prospects. "I know there's a lot of concern that many people have, including many smart people, that AI is going to make humans redundant and so on," Bezos said. "I totally disagree with this point of view. And I think, in fact, AI is going to create a labour shortage." He painted an optimistic picture of AI's future role in society, suggesting that people are limited not by a lack of ambition, but by barriers that technology can help remove. Billionaire entrepreneur Bezos was speaking about his new AI venture Prometheus, which is focused on accelerating physical manufacturing - a sector which is becoming increasingly automated. The UK's Trades Union Congress has warned that AI technology could repeat "the disaster of deindustrialisation" as shareholders get richer while jobs are "degraded or displaced". But it adds that AI could have transformative potential if developed properly, and workers could benefit from its productivity gains. Bezos also used his appearance at Europe's largest tech expo VivaTech Paris to outline his long-term vision for space exploration. He described space as "supply constrained, not demand constrained", arguing that access to space remains the biggest obstacle to future development. The Moon, he said, offers a natural starting point for humanity's expansion beyond Earth because of its proximity and resources. "We're going to the Moon to stay, not just to visit," Bezos told the audience, adding that technologies such as electrolysis could eventually allow lunar resources to be used to refuel rockets and support a permanent presence beyond Earth. The discussion also turned to another Bezos venture, space travel company Blue Origin. It had a recent setback after an uncrewed New Glenn rocket exploded during a ground test at Cape Canaveral in Florida in May. "It was a gut punch for the whole team. But what we've learned since then is we got really lucky," Bezos said. No injuries were reported in the explosion, and Bezos noted several critical pieces of launch infrastructure survived the incident, including propellant and fuel systems that would have taken significantly longer to replace. On the same stage as Bezos, Blue Origin chief executive Dave Limp said reconstruction work at the launch site is already underway and the company expects launches to resume before the end of the year. Blue Origin is in the race to establish itself as a major player in commercial spaceflight and lunar exploration, competing with Elon Musk's SpaceX in the growing market for extraterrestrial infrastructure. Away from the main stage, Unitree's humanoid robot was the definite crowd-pleaser. Constant queues of visitors wanted to see the latest advances in the robotics field. This time the robot was teaming up with French neuro-AI company HABS, which showcased technology designed to allow humans to interact with machines using cognitive signals rather than speech. The robot responded to commands generated through brain activity, via a headband with an electroencephalogram (commonly known as an EEG) attached to it. The test uses small, metal probes called electrodes that touch the scalp. The demo offered a glimpse of how future humans and machines could work together in the future. It also reflected a broader trend running through this year's event: AI moving beyond chatbots and into the physical world. Humanoid robots are increasingly becoming a reality with companies racing to develop machines capable of working alongside humans in healthcare, manufacturing and hospitality. Sign up for our Tech Decoded newsletter to follow the world's top tech stories and trends. Outside the UK? Sign up here.

Big Tech said AI would take your job. Now bosses disagree

Jeff Bezos says AI will cause a labour shortage. Sam Altman is 'delighted to be wrong' about white-collar losses. The doom talk has flipped to optimism, but the layoffs, and the incentives behind the new message, tell a more complicated story. For two years, the people building AI told us it was coming for our jobs. This month, the same people started saying it will create them. Speaking in Paris, Jeff Bezos said AI would cause "a labour shortage", not mass unemployment, and would unlock almost endless demand for builders and entrepreneurs. Days earlier, Sam Altman said he was "delighted to be wrong" about one of his biggest fears: that AI would rapidly wipe out white-collar work. As Gizmodo neatly put it, the chief executives have stopped publicly threatening to replace us. The script has flipped This is a sharp turn. Not long ago, Altman warned that "whole categories of jobs" would disappear. Other bosses raced to outdo each other on how much of the workforce their models would soon make redundant, even as graduates walked into the worst entry-level market in years. Now the mood music is all opportunity and human-AI partnership. Why the change, and why now The timing is doing a lot of work. OpenAI and Anthropic are heading towards enormous public listings, and you do not sell a jobs apocalypse to retail investors. A worker backlash and circling regulators have made doom talk costly, while optimism plays far better on a conference stage. It is worth remembering who is speaking, too. Bezos now runs Prometheus, a $41bn AI company. "AI creates jobs" is not just a prediction from him. It is a pitch. The data is messier than either slogan Look past the framing and the truth is duller than apocalypse or utopia. A new PwC study found AI splitting the labour market in two: it rewards firms that use it to enhance their people, and leaves behind those that use it only to cut costs. That is not collapse. It is redistribution. The losses, though, are real The tech sector shed hundreds of thousands of roles in 2025, and graduate unemployment has stayed stubbornly high. The people caught in the gap are real as well. The retailer Rainbow warned its fashion models that "fewer people will be needed", then the models watched AI-generated versions of themselves appear on the company's website. Watch what they build, not what they say Both versions of the story are partly public relations. The doom narrative flattered the technology, our models are so powerful they threaten your livelihood, and even gave cover for layoffs that were really about spending. Mark Zuckerberg admitted Meta's cuts were driven by capital expenditure, not AI productivity. The new optimism flatters the IPO. The honest position is the boring one. Nobody yet knows how this lands, the effect so far is uneven, and the safest guide is what these companies actually do with their own workforces, not what their founders say from a stage. The bosses have changed their tune. The layoff notices have not. Until the second catches up with the first, treat the optimism exactly as you should have treated the doom: as a forecast from people with something to sell.

Jeff Bezos predicts an optimistic future where AI won't lead to mass unemployment -- 'AI is going to create a labor shortage'

The Amazon founder doesn't see AI taking everyone's jobs in the near and distant future The rampant fears that have arisen concerning AI taking people's jobs have a ton of merit. Just this year alone, Pinterest laid off 15 percent of its workforce amid a shift toward AI initiatives, and Jack Dorsey (co-founder of Block) took to Twitter to announce that 4,000 jobs were cut at his company due to a restructuring aimed at integrating AI into its operations. On top of that, other major organizations, such as Atlassian, Meta and Cisco Systems, also announced mass layoffs connected to their further adoption of AI. With people across so many different job sectors scared that their positions could be furloughed and replaced by AI, it makes sense why everyone is fearful of a future where AI replaces humans in the workforce altogether. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos doesn't envision that terrifying future outcome whatsoever. In fact, his latest comments paint an entirely different picture where AI will create a larger labor shortage. Bezos doesn't believe in the widespread fears of AI eliminating human-led jobs Bezos, while attending the VivaTech technology conference in Paris, commented on the ever-increasing fears that artificial intelligence will eliminate jobs in the near and far future. The Amazon founder pointed to those concerns being overblown, plus he argued that AI will result in humans getting productivity gains as the technology advances to reduce task execution times. Reuters pointed out Bezos' comments on the matter. "I know there's a lot of concern that many people have, including many smart people, that AI is going to make humans redundant and so on," Bezos noted. "I totally disagree with this point ⁠of view. And I think, in fact, AI is going to create a labor shortage." Finance professional Oluwapelumi Joseph even pushed back on everyone's fears of AI taking their jobs during an appearance on the Drinks & Mics podcast. "With every innovation that has come, what you've always had is there's been this over-exaggeration of what it would lead to in terms of unemployment," he stated. "And what we've always found is that new types of employment come about." Those comments by Bezos point to a rosy future where mass layoffs due to AI decrease and a labor shortage comes through as more workers opt to leave the workforce on their own for various reasons. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 5.5 million new business applications were filed in 2023 in connection with a rise in entrepreneurship and worker flexibility. That number has increased to above 5 million applications annually since 2021. And with further studies pointing out that AI reduces the time needed to complete complex tasks, amplifies human judgment and moves beginners that much closer to being an expert across various subject areas (such as coding, analysis and writing), Bezos' comments may have a bit of merit to them. Bottom line With so many workers fearing for their livelihoods due to the evolution of AI and companies looking to rely on it more than human intuition, it's easy to see why there's been such a massive backlash against AI tools and the tech giants that power them. Bezos has his fair share of detractors, but his recent comments may earn him a slight bit of reprieve as he alludes to a future where AI leads to a labor shortage instead of replacing more jobs. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Subscribe to Tom's Guide on YouTube and follow us on TikTok.

'AI is going to create a labor shortage': Jeff Bezos flips the AI narrative on its head, states "I know there's a lot of concern that many people have

* Jeff Bezos says AI is a force for good, rather than a threat * The technology will expand the human labour market, and create more demand * Bezos' comments go against the narrative of other prominent voices in AI AI won't shrink the labor market, but will expand it, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has declared, in his latest blast against technology doom-mongerers. "I know there's a lot of concern that many people have, including many smart people, that AI is going to make humans redundant and so on," Bezos said at the VivaTech conference in Paris. "I totally disagree with this point of view. And I think, in fact, AI is going to create a labour shortage." Flipping the script Bezos' opinion contradict many of the comments recently made by prominent figures in the AI space, trade unions, studies, tech job layoff trackers, and the fears of workers themselves. Rather than replace jobs, the technology will present new opportunities for workers and create demand in new areas, he explained. The comments were made as Bezos spoke of his latest venture, Prometheus, which seeks to use AI to assist human manufacturing as a counterbalance to industry which is seeing increased automation. Bezos also took the opportunity to talk about his desire for humans to focus on space exploration, adding that it is "supply constrained, not demand constrained". First on the hitlist for interplanetary habitation is the Moon. "We're going to the Moon to stay, not just to visit," Bezos said, adding that establishing a permanent human base on the Moon would assist in further exploration. Bezos' space travel company Blue Origin was also a subject of discussion, after the company's New Glenn rocket exploded during a ground test at Cape Canaveral in Florida in May. The incident resulted in no injuries, and Blue Origin chief executive Dave Limp added that the launch site will be repaired and ready to resume operation before the end of the year. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.

'AI is going to create a labor shortage': Jeff Bezos thinks AI will create more jobs, not less, as he talks his AI startup Prometheus | Fortune

Speaking Wednesday at VivaTech, the annual technology conference held in Paris, the Amazon founder and world's fourth-richest person delivered a bullish vision of artificial intelligence's impact on the workforce -- and it's one that he has been building toward for weeks. "I know there's a lot of concern that many people have, including many smart people, that AI is going to make humans redundant," Bezos said in conversation with Blue Origin CEO David Limp. "I totally disagree with this point of view. And I think, in fact, AI is going to create a labor shortage." It wasn't the first time he made that case. In a May interview with CNBC, Bezos used a "bulldozer vs. shovel" metaphor to argue AI would uplift workers rather than replace them, predicted deflation driven by productivity gains, and specifically dismissed displacement fears about skilled workers like radiologists, and software engineers. Then, he called it "labor scarcity." Humans have "endless" things they want to do, Bezos said at the conference, and are currently held back only by barriers that AI will lower. Unleash those constraints, he argued, and the demand for human effort will only increase. The remarks put him at odds with a significant share of Americans, including some of the most prominent voices in his own industry. A Reuters/Ipsos poll published this month found that half of U.S. respondents fear the rise of AI could put them or someone in their household out of work. A Federal Reserve governor warned in February that a "jobless boom" leaving workers "essentially unemployable" was "totally possible." Even the leaders of major AI companies, like Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, has predicted AI could cause "unusually painful" disruption across white-collar work. However, both he and OpenAI's Sam Altman have since walked back their predictions ahead of their companies' blockbuster IPOs. Bezos's comments also come at a particularly painful point in the industry. Tech layoffs through May 2026 have already surpassed 115,000, approaching the total logged in all of 2025, with Meta, Amazon, and Snap among those citing AI as a driver of cuts. Goldman Sachs has estimated AI is eliminating roughly 16,000 U.S. jobs per month, with entry-level and Gen Z workers absorbing the heaviest impact. A survey of CFOs found AI-related layoffs could run nine times higher in 2026 than last year. Bezos instead is focusing on how industrial revolutions of past have always created more jobs, but he notably doesn't engage with the stats of how layoffs are affecting the industry. Prometheus The VivaTech stage appearance also gave Bezos a chance to talk about Prometheus, the AI startup he co-founded in November 2025 alongside former Google X scientist Vik Bajaj. The company, which has raised $12 billion at a valuation of roughly $41 billion -- making it one of the largest early-stage AI fundraises in history -- operates at the intersection of artificial intelligence and what it calls "the physical economy." Its target is engineering and manufacturing: aerospace, automotive, drug development. In another CNBC interview, he described the company as building what amounts to an "artificial general engineer" -- a next-generation design tool that can model, predict, and optimize the creation of physical objects, from jet engines to pharmaceuticals. He called it "a very, very modern version of CAD." Bezos has been at pains to correct assumptions about what Prometheus actually does. In that same May interview with CNBC, he interrupted a question that called the startup a "AI robotics" effort. "We have nothing to do with robotics," he said. Space exploration, Bezos said, is about saving the Earth. If launch costs fall far enough, and raw materials can be sourced from asteroids, the moon, and near-Earth objects, something of particular concern worldwide as the race for rare earth minerals reaches an all-time high complete with geopolitical tensions and actual scarcity. McKinsey recently predicted there will be a 30% shortfall of magnetic rare earth minerals by 2035. Going to space, Bezos said, would even help humans by relocating its most polluting industries off-planet entirely. "If space travel gets reliable enough and inexpensive enough, and we can get materials from asteroids and near-Earth objects and the moon, then this garden planet can be returned to its pre-Industrial Revolution state," Bezos said. Limp, who appeared alongside Bezos at VivaTech, offered the first public update on the company's recovery from a May explosion at its New Glenn launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Reconstruction of the pad has begun, Limp confirmed, though no launch timeline was given.

Jeff Bezos says AI will cause "labor scarcity," not job loss

"I know there's a lot of concern in general about AI and job loss," Bezos said in a recent CNBC interview. "I have a very different view. I think what's actually going to happen is we're going to have labor scarcity as a result. People are going to have to work hard." "I know why people are pessimistic. They're pessimistic because a bunch of smart people are telling them to be pessimistic, but those people are wrong," Bezos added. "When you have productivity -- and this could be very significant productivity in the economy -- that is going to raise the standard of living." Bezos has been staunch in his belief that AI will result in the opposite of job loss, instead resulting in a shortage of human labor. In May, he said that AI pessimists were "dead wrong," adding that the tech would "elevate" young workers and allow people to get work done at "a higher level."

Bezos: AI will result in labor shortages instead of replacing humans

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on Wednesday said he thinks artificial intelligence (AI) will create a shortage of labor rather than replacing human labor. Former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino asked Bezos and Blue Origin CEO David Limp at the VivaTech technology conference in Paris about implementing Bezos' new AI startup Prometheus with Blue Origin's engineering. The Amazon founder said he disagrees with many people, "including many smart people, that AI is ⁠going to make humans redundant and so on." "I totally disagree with this point of view, and I think, in fact, AI is going to create a labor shortage because it's going to make it possible for people to identify more problems," Bezos continued. "We have an endless set of things to invent and we are only limited -- today, we are only limited not by our imaginations but by why what we can actually do." Bezos' praise of AI comes as companies cite the implementation of AI as justification for layoffs. Of the more than 97,000 job cuts in May, U.S.-based employers cited AI as the leading reason for 37,579, accounting for 40 percent of all cuts, according to a report released earlier this month by Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The findings mark the third straight month that cuts have risen, with AI being a major contributing factor. "The labor market is being reshaped by technology in real time" Andy Challenger, workplace expert and chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in the report. "AI is now the leading reason companies give for cutting jobs and the primary industry citing it is Technology. Technology, already the year's biggest job cutter, saw its steepest cuts since early 2023, even as it remains the sector with the most hiring plans this year." The latest polling from Reuters/Ipsos shows that more than half of Americans fear they or someone in their home will lose their job to AI. The Trump administration has taken a friendly approach to the AI industry, with the president signing an executive order earlier this month stating that AI labs can voluntarily provide the government with their models for a period of up to 30 days before they plan to release them publicly.

AI will lead to labour shortages, Jeff Bezos says in optimistic talk

Bezos put forward a rosy vision of how technology will help humanity, speaking about projects including his space venture Blue Origin and his new AI startup Prometheus, ⁠which ⁠is aimed at speeding up physical manufacturing. Bezos, the world's fourth-richest person with a net ⁠worth around $250 billion, argued that people have "endless" things to do, and are currently limited by barriers that he said AI would lower. Artificial Intelligence will lead to labour shortages, not the replacement of humans, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos predicted in a highly optimistic appearance at the VivaTech technology conference in Paris on Wednesday. Bezos put forward a rosy vision of how technology will help humanity, speaking about projects including his space venture Blue Origin and his new AI startup Prometheus, ⁠which ⁠is aimed at speeding up physical manufacturing. "I know there's a lot of concern that many people have, including many smart people, that AI is going to make humans redundant and so on," Bezos said. "I totally disagree with this point of view. And I think, in fact, AI is going to create a labor shortage." Half of Americans fear the rise of AI could ⁠put them or someone in their household out of work, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found this month. Bezos, the world's fourth-richest person with a net ⁠worth around $250 billion, argued that people have "endless" things to do, and are currently limited by barriers that he said AI would lower. One goal of space exploration is to move polluting industries off Earth, said Bezos, whose Blue Origin aims to compete with trillionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX in rockets. "If space travel gets reliable enough and inexpensive enough, and we can get materials from asteroids and near-Earth objects and the moon, then this garden planet can be returned to its pre-Industrial Revolution state," Bezos said. Appearing together with Bezos was Blue Origin CEO David Limp, who ⁠said reconstruction of the firm's launch pad for New Glenn rockets has begun in Florida following a dramatic explosion in May. Musk has also put forward a lofty vision for space ahead of last week's SpaceX IPO, including plans to create cities on the moon and Mars. In an interview with JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon last week, he talked about firing AI data centres into space and having vacations on the moon.

Why Jeff Bezos predicts AI will create labor shortage amid his space rivalry with Elon Musk

Artificial Intelligence will lead to labor shortages, not the replacement of humans, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos predicted in a highly optimistic appearance at the VivaTech technology conference in Paris on Wednesday. Bezos put forward a rosy vision of how technology will help humanity, speaking about projects including his space venture Blue Origin and his new AI startup Prometheus, which is aimed at speeding up physical manufacturing. "I know there's a lot of concern that many people have, including many smart people, that AI is going to make humans redundant and so on," Bezos said. "I totally disagree with this point of view. And I think, in fact, AI is going to create a labor shortage." Half of Americans fear the rise of AI could put them or someone in their household out of work, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found this month. Bezos, the world's fourth-richest person with a net worth around $250 billion, argued that people have "endless" things to do, and are currently limited by barriers that he said AI would lower. One goal of space exploration is to move polluting industries off Earth, said Bezos, whose Blue Origin aims to compete with trillionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX in rockets. "If space travel gets reliable enough and inexpensive enough, and we can get materials from asteroids and near-Earth objects and the moon, then this garden planet can be returned to its pre-Industrial Revolution state," Bezos said. Appearing together with Bezos was Blue Origin CEO David Limp, who said reconstruction of the firm's launch pad for New Glenn rockets has begun in Florida following a dramatic explosion in May. Musk has also put forward a lofty vision for space ahead of last week's SpaceX IPO, including plans to create cities on the moon and Mars. In an interview with JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon last week, he talked about firing AI data centers into space and having vacations on the moon.

AI will lead to labour shortages, Bezos says in optimistic talk

PARIS -- Artificial Intelligence will lead to labour shortages, not the replacement of humans, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos predicted in a highly optimistic appearance at the VivaTech technology conference in Paris on Wednesday. Bezos put forward a rosy vision of how technology will help humanity, speaking about projects including his space venture Blue Origin and his new AI startup Prometheus, which is aimed at speeding up physical manufacturing. "I know there's a lot of concern that many people have, including many smart people, that AI is going to make humans redundant and so on," Bezos said. "I totally disagree with this point of view. And I think, in fact, AI is going to create a labour shortage." Half of Americans fear the rise of AI could put them or someone in their household out of work, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found this month. Bezos, the world's fourth-richest person with a net worth around US$250 billion, argued that people have "endless" things to do, and are currently limited by barriers that he said AI would lower. One goal of space exploration is to move polluting industries off Earth, said Bezos, whose Blue Origin aims to compete with trillionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX in rockets. "If space travel gets reliable enough and inexpensive enough, and we can get materials from asteroids and near-Earth objects and the moon, then this garden planet can be returned to its pre-Industrial Revolution state," Bezos said. Appearing together with Bezos was Blue Origin CEO David Limp, who said reconstruction of the firm's launch pad for New Glenn rockets has begun in Florida following a dramatic explosion in May. Musk has also put forward a lofty vision for space ahead of last week's SpaceX IPO, including plans to create cities on the moon and Mars. In an interview with JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon last week, he talked about firing AI data centres into space and having vacations on the moon.

AI will lead to labour shortages, Bezos says in optimistic talk

PARIS, June 17 (Reuters) - Artificial Intelligence will lead to labour shortages, not the replacement of humans, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos predicted in a highly optimistic appearance at the VivaTech technology conference in Paris on Wednesday. Bezos put forward a rosy vision of how technology will help humanity, speaking about projects including his space venture Blue Origin and his new AI startup Prometheus, which is aimed at speeding up physical manufacturing. "I know there's a lot of concern that many people have, including many smart people, that AI is going to make humans redundant and so on," Bezos said. "I totally disagree with this point of view. And I think, in fact, AI is going to create a labor shortage." Half of Americans fear the rise of AI could put them or someone in their household out of work, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found this month. Bezos, the world's fourth-richest person with a net worth around $250 billion, argued that people have "endless" things to do, and are currently limited by barriers that he said AI would lower. One goal of space exploration is to move polluting industries off Earth, said Bezos, whose Blue Origin aims to compete with trillionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX in rockets. "If space travel gets reliable enough and inexpensive enough, and we can get materials from asteroids and near-Earth objects and the moon, then this garden planet can be returned to its pre-Industrial Revolution state," Bezos said. Appearing together with Bezos was Blue Origin CEO David Limp, who said reconstruction of the firm's launch pad for New Glenn rockets has begun in Florida following a dramatic explosion in May. Musk has also put forward a lofty vision for space ahead of last week's SpaceX IPO, including plans to create cities on the moon and Mars. In an interview with JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon last week, he talked about firing AI data centres into space and having vacations on the moon. (Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro, Toby Sterling and Louise HeavensEditing by Peter Graff)