Every 70s, 80s or 90s kid must remember the terror of an invincible Arnold Schwarzenegger stomping around the world on behalf of Skynet – an AI system gone rouge and now determined to eliminate the human race. You might be thinking that a generation raised on Terminator might be a little AI and robot wary… but alas, it seems not. Not only has the world adopted AI such as ChatGPT and Gemini at an alarming rate, but robots are now making their way out of the factories where they first started out and into the sporting world! 

Recently, Beijing hosted the world’s first half marathon… between humans and robots. Yep, you heard that right… 21 humanoid bots, strutting their silicon stuff alongside 12,000 proper runners. Arms swinging, legs whirring, some even kitted out in tiny trainers (no joke). Now, I’ve seen some strange things in my 35 years in freight… but robots in running shorts? That’s a new one. And the results? Well, let’s just say the humans aren’t out of a job just yet. The winning robot came in at 2 hours 40 minutes. Respectable. But it was still over 90 minutes behind the bloke who won. A few tripped over their own feet, one crashed into a barrier, and another fell down halfway and sat down for a rest. Proper comedy gold.

But here’s the thing – it wasn’t just a gimmick. It was a glimpse into where the world’s headed. AI. Robotics. Automation. All marching (or stumbling) into our future. And whether we like it or not, it’s coming for every industry.Freight included.

Now, don’t panic – we’re not about to replace our drivers with androids or let a chatbot handle your customs clearance just yet. But AI is already sneaking into the mix. Route planning, warehouse automation, predictive tracking. It’s changing the world of freight forwarding. The trick is knowing where the tech can help – and where the good old-fashioned human brain still does it better.

At Millennium Cargo, we’re embracing the future. But we’re doing it with our eyes wide open. Because while the robots are learning to run… they’ve still got a long way to go before they can handle the chaos of international freight. So for now? We’ll stick with our humans. (And maybe a bit of clever software on the side.)

How about you? Are you all in favour of AI or are you a robot-resister? I’d love to hear your thoughts…