Ford has brought back more than 300 retired veteran engineers, affectionately known as the “greybeards,” after discovering that artificial intelligence simply couldn’t match their real-world skills and wisdom.
In recent years, the American automaker had increasingly relied on artificial intelligence for engineering tasks, manufacturing processes and quality control, but the results fell short.
Ford admitted that over-reliance on automated systems led to problems that only experienced human experts could properly fix.
These experienced engineers, some pulled straight out of retirement, now play a critical role, mentoring younger colleagues, spotting potential points of failure long before parts reach the factory floor, troubleshooting quality issues in real-time, and even reprogramming AI tools to work more efficiently.
Charles Poon, Ford’s vice president of vehicle hardware engineering, explained it perfectly: “Artificial intelligence is a great tool, but it’s only as good as the information you use to train it.” He admitted that the company had mistakenly believed that introducing design requirements for AI would automatically deliver high-quality products.
Kumar Galhotra, Ford’s chief operating officer, added that while the company is deploying artificial intelligence across its operations, it had relied too much on automated quality systems without getting the desired results.
The move to rehire human talent appears to be paying off as Ford has climbed back to the top of the JD Power Initial Quality Study as the highest-rated mainstream automaker in the US, a position it last held 15 years ago.
