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JD.com founder pledged no layoffs from automation, launched 'Nirvana Plan' to retrain delivery and warehouse workers
May 27, 2026JD.com chairman Richard Liu publicly pledged in a May 27, 2026 internal speech that the company would not fire frontline workers replaced by robots, following an April 2026 Chinese court ruling barring employers from terminating workers solely to replace them with AI. JD.com launched the 'Nirvana Plan,' partnering with 120 educational institutions and establishing over 80 training bases to reskill delivery and warehouse workers (out of a workforce of roughly 900,000, including 700,000 delivery drivers) for new roles in robot maintenance, drone operation, dispatch, and remote monitoring as the company scales automated logistics including a fully unmanned delivery station.