Ford hired AI and sacked humans. It backfired badly

“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.

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

You admit you dont pay attention to your best engineers, then fire them for an AI that does not understand context or nuance and then you wonder why your QA breaks down? Truly, I cannot understand how these companies still exist.

From the article:

Ford continues to have quality issues with its older vehicles, and remains the most recalled automaker in the US, though executives blamed this on past issues involving automation, rather than the rehiring of humans.

Technical debt is a thing. And in this case, it appears to have dividends.

It is also worth noting the featured comment on the article:

Ford is only rehiring humans long enough to perfect the AI systems. They are literally training their replacements.

I am not yet convinced companies like Ford have learnt from their past. I am not the only one.

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