Alibaba's unmanned supermarket Taocafe (photo/People's Daily)

It seems that artificial intelligence (AI) has touched our lives in ever more ways. Wherever it is possible to spare human labor, machines are invented as the replacement. A vivid example could be the recent boom of unmanned convenience stores in Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou, such as BingoBox, Amazon Go, convenience store chain Lawson, and Alibaba’s unmanned supermarket Taocafe.

People shop in the store (photo/news.china.com.cn)

With no cashier and no line in the store, customers at Alibaba’s Taocafe are able to shop freely after they get an electronic entrance ticket by scanning the QR code at the front door. Payment can also be made through the ticket.

People make payment in the store (photo/news.china.com.cn)

The rapid development of the “unmanned” economy has led some to become concerned about the future prospects of employment. “In the future, 10 percent of the population will be bosses, another 10 percent will be employees, while the rest of the 80 percent enjoy sunshine by the seaside every day, depending entirely on social security,” one netizen jokingly comment.

In fact, while the advancement of AI is inevitable, there is no reason to worry too much. One will not be “phased out” if one keeps on learning and dares to be a leader.