As digital technology advances at lighting speed, many predict that AI, machine learning and automation will remove over half of all retail jobs in the next 20 years. With countless bold statements in the media, this can often appear as a certainty – but are these claims justified? If we look at what is happening today, I doubt it. For sure AI (the capability of a machine to imitate human behaviour), machine learning (computers learning and improving without explicit programming) and automation (the replacement or total elimination of manual tasks) will play a part in re-shaping the future workforce, but will the outcome be as bleak as predicted? The very large data sets generated by online shopping are utilised to drive better personalisation and customer experience through ad placement, search, product recommendations and placement, fraud management and translation.

This article originally appeared on the Motley Fool. Robots will take jobs formerly done by people, and that will hit the retail space pretty hard. That does not mean an army of robotic workers will eliminate the need for humans entirely. Instead, jobs that can be easily automated will be, according to ZipRecruiter's Chief Economic Adviser Cathy Barrera in an email interview with The Motley Fool. ZipRecruiter, which was launched in 2010, started as a tool to help small businesses distribute job postings affordably.

Robots have already cost millions of factory jobs across the nation. Next up could be jobs at your local stores. Between 6 million to 7.5 million existing jobs are at risk of being replaced over the course of the next 10 years by some form of automation, according to a new study this week from by financial services firm Cornerstone Capital Group. That represents at least 38% of the current retail work force, which consists of 16 million workers. Retail could actually lose a greater proportion of jobs to automation than manufacturing has, according to the study.

Nearly half of Americans working in retail are at risk of losing their job to a robot, a new study has revealed. An analysis has found up to 7.5 million jobs that deal with merchandise are set to be automated over the next decade. The researchers discovered that those who work as cashiers have the highest risk of being replaced - and 73 percent of those positions are held by women. An analysis has found up to 7.5 million jobs that deal with merchandise are set to be automated over the next decade– leaving behind a large portion of'stranded workers'. The study was released by Cornerstone Capital Group that found there are some 16 million American working in retail, 'which represents 10 percent of the nation's working population and generates 6 percent of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP),' reads a press release. 'This in-depth examination of retail automation gives investors insights as they consider investment risks and opportunities,' said Jon Lukomnik, IRRCi executive director.

With Google for Jobs, Google is trying to make it easier for everyone to find a job that is right for them. Google wants to make your next job search a lot less painful. That is one of the initiatives the company addressed during the keynote presentation of this year's Google I/O conference in Mountain View, California, on Wednesday. It is called Google for Jobs and it embeds powerful and intuitive job search tools right in Google Search for faster, more relevant results. A quick search for "retail jobs" brought up a list of nearby positions, which could then be filtered by category, title, date posted, and even commute times.

Amazon has just launched a retail experience like no other. Customers are now, thanks to AI technology, able to walk in, grab what they want and walk out. And, while still in the beta phase of testing, Amazon Go is set to shake things up on a number of levels including business. Tim Dunlop of The Guardian says it's confirmation that we're moving from a globalized world of manufacturing giants to a networked one of technology giants. So just what does Amazon's Go mean for business?