claire872•5d agoProlific Poster

I finally saw the AI shift happen right in front of me at the grocery store

I was at my local Kroger last Thursday and they had just installed six new self-checkout kiosks with those AI cameras that watch what you scan. The cashier who usually works lane three, Maria, was just standing there helping people with the machines instead of running a register. She told me they cut the manned lanes from eight to two overnight. It hit me that her job didn't disappear, but it totally changed into tech support in less than a week. I'm starting to think a lot of jobs won't vanish, they'll just become about managing the AI tools. Has anyone else seen a job in their town get completely reshaped like this?

3 comments

3 Comments

roberts.leo5d agoTop Commenter

Read an article about factory workers who used to just assemble parts, now they mostly monitor robotic arms and fix error codes. Their pay stayed the same but the training changed completely, like a two week crash course on basic troubleshooting. Kinda wild how fast that shift happens.

beth2765d ago

Yeah, it's the same with self-checkout lanes now. The cashier's whole job got swapped out for a quick lesson on clearing jams.

the_thomas5d ago

Hold on, I actually see this as a downgrade! Maria went from having a real skill, handling cash and customer service, to just being a helper for broken machines. That's not a shift, it's a deskilling. Soon they'll just have one manager for all those kiosks and cut hours. This isn't reshaping jobs, it's phasing them out step by step.