Fetch.ai Research Reveals How Autonomous Supply Chains Could Take Manufacturing Jobs

• Autonomous supply chains offer many benefits but cannot handle sudden disruptions.
• Blockchain-enabled supply chains are already adopting AI bots into their networks.
• AI automation in supply chains will result in significant numbers of workers being displaced.

A new research paper co-authored with Fetch.ai has found that supply chain systems bolstered with artificial intelligence (AI) can offer some improvements, but fail to adapt to real-world problems.

Looking at the potential of autonomous supply chains (ASCs), the paper indirectly highlights the looming labor market and economic woes resulting from automation.

Automated Supply Chains

The bots are coming to a supply chain near you, but there may still be some time to go before they can truly “revolutionize” some of the world’s largest networks.

The paper titled “On implementing autonomous supply chains: A multi-agent system approach” was co-authored by Cambridge University researchers and Fetch.ai Director of Business Development, Maria Minaricova. In it, researchers noted the vulnerabilities within supply chains that were “greatly exposed” as a result of trade restrictions, COVID-19, and recent geopolitical conflicts.

Looking to address said challenges, the paper examines the concept of ASCs using the meat supply chain as its case study. Almost 200 million tons of meat eaten globally so far this year, and production has doubled since 1988. Therefore, demand for a more efficient and capable meat supply chain is also rising.

The case study used an agent-based ASC system (A2SC), more specifically a multi-agent system (MAS) approach. It deployed Wholesaler, Supplier, Retailer, Logistics, and 3PL bots, or “Agents,” to represent different facets of the supply chain network, as well as others, and have them simulate scenarios.

The paper found the prototype “promising” though it encountered some notable limitations. Namely, researchers found that the prototype successfully integrated automated functions and connected decision-making points, but it “lacks the ability to reconfigure and adapt to disruptions.”

Blockchain and AI

Supply chains are also beginning to adopt other cutting-edge technologies such as blockchain, which, for some years now, has found itself being tried and tested across numerous supply chain systems in various industries.

Notably, blockchain-bolstered supply chain systems have found some solid success, especially within some of its earlier applications within meat supply chains. Proven to enhance food safety and traceability, blockchain’s prowess as a distributed ledger shines as a new technical standard for tracking meat products .

The combination of AI and blockchain technologies certainly holds promise for supply chain networks, especially when Internet-of-Things (IoT) technologies are also introduced.

Automated Unemployment

The natural conclusion to AI automation is significant job losses in the supply chain sector. In January 2024, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated that approximately 40% of global employment is exposed to AI.

At the AI for Good Global Summit in May 2024, IMF Deputy Managing Director, Gita Gopinath, said in a paper delivered at the summit:

“In the next downturn, AI is likely to threaten a wider range of jobs than in past cycles, including higher-skilled cognitive jobs. An estimated 30 percent of jobs in advanced economies are at risk of being replaced by AI. That figure is 20 percent for emerging markets and 18 percent for low-income countries.”

However, Gopinath stresses that generative AI models can have negative impacts on global supply chains. She explains that widespread adoption could cause them to rely more on AI predictions for their decisions or trigger a series of forecasting errors.

“This could cause crippling delays and shortages of critical supplies across the global economy. The recent Covid-19 crisis is a reminder of how costly supply chain disruptions can be for society, including through its impact on prices and living costs.”

If the global crisis persists, a series of unfortunate collapses could amplify economic, financial, and labor market crises in the very near future.