Ford has admitted to rehiring hundreds of human workers after AI failed to match their skills and experience. According to Bloomberg, the company’s executives said it 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.
Ford’s COO Kumar Galhotra mentioned the company has been increasingly relying on automated quality systems, and not getting required results. “We brought back technical specialists and they hunt for failure points before a part ever reaches the plant floor.”
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Ford has been relying on AI-driven inspection systems to streamline production and address quality control issues. However, the firm acknowledged that AI lacked the nuanced judgement required to deal with complex problems.
Ford reportedly experienced a marked improvement in quality standards after rehiring engineers. In a press release 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.”
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According to the latest JD Power Initial Quality Survey, an annual automotive benchmark that measures the quality of new vehicles, Ford ranked top among mainstream brands. This is the first time the company has achieved that milestone in 16 years. This is a dramatic increase from its position in the prior year’s survey, when it sat tenth among mainstream brands and trailed the industry average.
Ford continues to have quality issues with its older vehicles, and remains the most recalled automaker in the U.S., though executives blamed this on past issues involving automation, rather than the rehiring of humans.
This comes as an increasing number of companies are pushing the use of AI, often citing the technology as a reason for layoffs. Critics have pushed back against this, saying those companies are engaging in “AI washing” by falsely attributing workforce reductions to the technology’s impact. There have also been concerns about whether AI implementation is profitable in the long term amid the possibility of an AI bubble.