Ford Rehires Experienced Engineers After AI Quality Testing Fails

California. American automobile manufacturer Ford has reportedly rehired some experienced human engineers after its artificial intelligence (AI) system failed to test quality to the expected level. 

The company had started using AI in various areas of its production system, citing cost reduction and productivity increase. The company had specifically used AI technology for quality testing. However, according to company officials, the automated system could not match the skills and experience of experienced technicians.

According to Bloomberg, Ford has rehired more than 300 experienced quality inspectors in the past few years to improve the shortcomings of the automated system. Charles Pun, Ford's Vice President of Vehicle Hardware Engineering, said, 'Artificial intelligence is an excellent tool, but its effectiveness depends on the quality of the information used to train it.'

He added, 'In previous years, we did not give enough importance to the knowledge and experience of experienced engineers who have gone through many production cycles,'. Last year, Ford's Chief Executive Officer Jim Farley had said that AI could affect the jobs of many white-collar employees. The company had stated that it was using AI technology throughout its industrial system.

Under this, Ford had installed 900 AI-powered cameras in its factories, with the aim of identifying quality-related problems in the production process itself and reducing disruptions in the supply chain. However, according to Charles Pun, Vice President of Vehicle Hardware Engineers at the company, the AI-based quality testing system did not yield results as expected by the company. He said, 'We mistakenly assumed that by providing the necessary design information to the AI, it would automatically ensure high-quality production.'

According to him, the automated tools lacked the skills and experience of experienced technicians. Also, many of those technicians had left the company, so their knowledge could not be used to train the AI system. The company has now deployed the rehired experienced engineers to train the AI system and guide younger employees.