₦airaland Forum

Ford says it has hired back some human engineers after AI failed to match their skills and experience.

In a bid to reap the benefits of the tech, which developers claim can cut costs and boost productivity, the US carmaker adopted it across some parts of its operations including for quality checks.

But, according to Bloomberg, external, its executives said the firm has rehired more than 300 "veteran" quality inspectors in recent years to make up for the pitfalls of automated systems.

"Artificial intelligence is a fantastic tool, but it's only as good as the information you use to train it," Charles Poon, vice president of vehicle hardware engineering, told reporters.

"Over prior years, we didn't pay as much attention as we should have to the experience of our most knowledgeable engineers that have been with us through many product cycles," he said.

The US automaker is among many to have seized on the buzz around AI, particularly amid Wall Street fervour about the tech's potential to increase margins.

"AI will leave a lot of white collar people behind," Ford boss Jim Farley said in an interview with author Walter Isaacson last June.

In an October earnings call, external, chief operating officer Kumar Galhotra said the firm was "deploying AI across the entire industrial system".

This included rolling out 900 AI-powered cameras in its plants "to detect quality issues at the source and help us mitigate supply disruptions", Galhotra told investors.

But Poon told reporters on Wednesday the firm's AI-driven checks had failed to live up to expectations.

"Mistakenly, we thought that by just introducing artificial intelligence and ingesting the design requirements that we had, that would produce a high-quality product," he said.

Poon reportedly pointed to automated tools lacking the training and expertise of veteran technicians - many of whom he said had left the company before their knowledge could be used to improve its tech.

He said these human workers had since been reintroduced to train up its systems, as well as mentor younger workers.

"We recognised that for us to enhance some of our automation and machine learning and artificial intelligence tools we needed to ensure that they were trained by the most experienced individuals," he said, per Bloomberg.

Ford's admission of its AI failings came as it lauded its return to the top of an index used as an industry benchmark to measure vehicle quality.

It said it was the number one mainstream automaker in the US JD Power Initial Quality Study - a ranking it has not held since 2010.

In a press release, external marking the news, the company said "reaching best-in-class quality required a significant talent refresh".

This involved replacing senior leaders across engineering, supply chain and manufacturing, it said, as well as hiring the roughly 300 veteran engineers "who carry the hard-earned wisdom of decades of design".

Mattswaggz:
AI can hardly replace humans given that it is only as good as what humans put into it or train it to do......another angle is that AI can be trained to elite level which would mean that provided the right engineers and resources is being put into it's training it is expected to get better with time and could still serve as a threat to human expertise in certain aspects of human endeavors... nonetheless,this move looks like a Greek gift....these self centered employees are looking to have these rehired engineers train the AI with their own knowledge/expertise which could mean that if everything goes well, they will still be disposable in the nearest future....if I were them I will either refuse to train the AI or ask that my pay be made x10 or even include a huge payout clause on my contract that if I am fired to be replaced by AI I will be paid a huge amount of money as compensation.

Mattswaggz:
AI can hardly replace humans given that it is only as good as what humans put into it or train it to do......another angle is that AI can be trained to elite level which would mean that provided the right engineers and resources is being put into it's training it is expected to get better with time and could still serve as a threat to human expertise in certain aspects of human endeavors... nonetheless,this move looks like a Greek gift....these self centered employees are looking to have these rehired engineers train the AI with their own knowledge/expertise which could mean that if everything goes well, they will still be disposable in the nearest future....if I were them I will either refuse to train the AI or ask that my pay be made x10 or even include a huge payout clause on my contract that if I am fired to be replaced by AI I will be paid a huge amount of money as compensation.

whitebeard:
Just the way a carpenter has his/her saw, hammer, screw driver, drills and other tools.

The painter with his painting brush and other tools,

A mechanic with his spanner and other tools.

AI is a tool. It shouldn't be used to replace humans in any way.

On a scale of 1-10, when humans venture onto something new they start at a 1 or 3, (lower numbers) but with AI, humans no longer start at such numbers we start at 7.

AI helps raise the standards and help humans do what they do better that's all.

Replacing humans with AI is just like a snake biting itself.

Imagine facebook replaces a significant numbers of items staffs with AI, now those staffs purchase certain goods and services from certain companies, organisations whatever. Now these certain companies pay facebook for advertisements, but now the number of people buying their goods and services have reduced cause people(replaces with AI) don't have money to do so they tell facebook, we won't be advertising anymore, facebook revenue also drops. Everything crashes and we are left asking what went wrong.

Replacing humans with AI is really dumb, but making sure humans use AI properly to improve their selves is the right way.

DoctorAyukebot:
The future is definitely human
The day AI will acrobatically and sensually satisfy my girlfriend I will hand them the baton for the future

Amalekki:
Those fantasizing about AI hate it when it's emphasized that it's just a tool, but a very advanced one.

AI shouldn't replace you but someone using AI effectively will eventually replace you, if you are not that person!

motymop:
Ai is over hyped, you still need human input

It is suppose to make your work efficient, help you not replace you

Wstation:
Absolutely. Artificial intelligence is a powerful tool, but it's only as good as the data, knowledge, and expertise used to build and train it.

If companies are hiring engineers back because AI couldn't meet expectations, those engineers should think beyond just returning as employees. They should negotiate better pay, build their retirement funds, and, where possible, work as consultants. The reality is that once the AI has been properly trained and the systems are mature, some of those roles may no longer be needed. They should make the most of the opportunity while their expertise is in high demand again.

Mattswaggz:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgrkd41n2v9o

AhmeduandOkopi:
At its current state, asides specialised expert systems and narrow AI applications, general AI still has some mileage to attain, to at least get a semblance of 'unaided intelligence' in it's applications.
Some much touted recent AI innovations and products basically functions at the brain power level of a lizard, more or less.