How Amazon's AI works, which packs goods itself and saves millions of dollars. It doesn't make mistakes, and competitors couldn't replicate it

亚马逊 is the largest marketplace in the world. With 20 million parcels shipped daily in 19 countries, it needs a huge amount of paper, cardboard and plastic for packaging.

On top of that, you still need to use packaging materials efficiently, so you don't have to put small items in a big box, for example.

In 2019, Amazon created an artificial intelligence that selects the perfect packaging for each product. As a result, the company saves at least 500,000 tons of packaging every year. That's the same approximate weight of 7,750 Boeing 737 airplanes.

With this AI, the company has probably saved millions of dollars because it wastes less packaging, although Amazon itself does not disclose this figure.

How Amazon's AI works

Internally, the artificial intelligence is called the Packaging Decision Engine. It ensures that customers' purchases are delivered in the most efficient packaging, while preventing damage and simplifying delivery.

In creating the model, engineers trained it on millions of examples of products that were delivered without damage in different types of packaging. They also showed products delivered with damage and data on the packaging used to ship them.

When a product first arrives at Amazom's warehouse, it passes through a special computer vision tunnel that determines the dimensions of the product and identifies its vulnerabilities. For example, unprotected glass.

The AI then matches this data with a product card that contains the product name, description and dimensions. The AI also gathers near real-time information from customer reviews.

Once all the data is collected, the AI gives a score to the product, which tells it what type of packaging is best to use.

The model understands that certain keywords are important when deciding on packaging. For example, a transported bag would not be appropriate for items with the words in the description "food" or "ceramic tableware." The AI will recommend using a box instead.

Why others can't make a similar system

Amazon can use artificial intelligence to make packaging decisions because it has the money and data to do so.

Amazon is now using its AI across North America and Europe. The company is working to roll it out in India, Australia and Japan.

The difficulty of launching in other countries is due to specific products in those markets and the language barrier, in the case of India and Japan.

Why retrain the AI

Amazon uses artificial intelligence to package most of its products. The main problem for Amazon is plastic, because it is difficult to recycle. Therefore, the company is phasing it out in favor of paper.

In October 2023, Amazon announced that its warehouse in Euclid, Ohio will replace plastic packaging with recyclable paper and cardboard. The transition was helped by artificial intelligence, which determined which items could be safely placed in paper bags (a new type of packaging that is 90 percent lighter than rigid cardboard boxes of the same size) and which needed more protection.

The transition to the new packaging is now complete at Euclid. In Europe, Amazon has already replaced plastic bags and plastic sheeting with paper and cardboard boxes and paper fillers. This is because a law banning single-use plastic packaging is about to go into effect in the European Union.

As a result of all the changes, the artificial intelligence has to be retrained regularly so that it selects the right packaging for each product.

What else can Amazon do with AI

Amazon uses many artificial intelligence models in its operations. For example, the company has AI that identifies damaged goods, sizing up clothes and shoes, and identifying low-quality fruits and vegetables in Amazon Fresh stores. That's just the stuff that applies directly to shopping.

Amazon also has AI to control smart devices, create product cards and ads, predict soccer matches, and a host of other models.

Amazon believes that artificial intelligence is the most transformative technology of our time and will become an increasingly important part of the business, so it is actively investing in this area.