Following the first series’ theme of “Change,” the second edition of The Prologis Meetings focused on “Robotics and Artificial Intelligence.” Prologis customers and prospects attended the June 20 meeting at the Pavillon Dauphine in Paris. The agenda featured an engaging debate between Alexandre Cadain, co-founder and CEO of the futuristic product design firm Anima, and Fabien Bardinet, CEO of the robotics manufacturer Balyo. The conversation was led by Jean-Philippe Guillaume of Supply Chain magazine.
Cadain suggested that artificial intelligence should be viewed not as a threat, but as an unprecedented opportunity to build a virtuous future. He argued that it is a human responsibility to steer the use of artificial intelligence toward goodness and create opportunities for human-machine collaborations to release people from repetitive tasks.
Bardinet, one of the French fathers of robotics and involved in the logistics revolution, declared, "Robotics will destroy millions of jobs, and that's very good news!" He described a future where machines will replace humans for simple tasks: "Robotics is mainly used to transfer trades to tasks with higher added value. Jobs can disappear, but they will be replaced by others that will offer other services where the human is permanently unequaled."
After two hours of lively discussion, François Rispe, managing director Prologis Southern Europe, concluded with an optimistic look at the social and economic impacts of 21st century logistics.