Ford rehires human engineers as AI fails to match their skills
Ford has rehired hundreds of experienced engineers after admitting its AI-powered quality systems could not match the expertise of veteran staff.
Ford has rehired hundreds of experienced engineers after admitting its artificial intelligence systems failed to match the expertise of veteran workers responsible for maintaining vehicle quality.
The US carmaker said more than 300 experienced quality inspectors and engineers have returned to the company in recent years after automated systems fell short of expectations.
Ford had expanded its use of AI across manufacturing operations, including deploying hundreds of AI-powered cameras to identify production defects and improve quality control.
However, company executives acknowledged the technology could not replace decades of human experience.
Charles Poon, Ford's vice president of vehicle hardware engineering, told reporters: "Artificial intelligence is a fantastic tool, but it's only as good as the information you use to train it.
"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."
Ford has been among the automotive manufacturers investing heavily in AI as companies seek to improve efficiency and reduce costs.
Last year, chief executive Jim Farley predicted that AI would significantly reshape the workforce, saying: "AI will leave a lot of white-collar people behind."
The company has since introduced AI throughout its manufacturing network, with chief operating officer Kumar Galhotra previously revealing Ford had installed around 900 AI-powered cameras across its factories.
Speaking during an earnings call last October, Galhotra said the cameras would "detect quality issues at the source and help us mitigate supply disruptions".
But Poon said relying solely on artificial intelligence proved to be a mistake.
He said: "Mistakenly, we thought that by just introducing artificial intelligence and ingesting the design requirements that we had, that would produce a high-quality product."
According to Bloomberg, Ford found its automated tools lacked the practical knowledge accumulated by long-serving engineers, many of whom had already left the business before their expertise could be passed on.
The returning employees are now helping train Ford's AI systems while also mentoring younger engineers.
Poon said: "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.
Ford's comments came as the company celebrated reclaiming the top spot among mainstream manufacturers in the latest JD Power Initial Quality Study, its highest ranking since 2010.
In a statement, the automaker said achieving the result required "a significant talent refresh", including bringing back roughly 300 veteran engineers who "carry the hard-earned wisdom of decades of design".
