Is your job next? Ford CEO on AI, spreadsheet work

If you build spreadsheets for a living, Ford's CEO has bad news. If you repair the robots that build its trucks, he has the opposite message. Jim Farley told reporters in Detroit on Wednesday that AI's "first inning" will change or eliminate finance, call-centre and entry-level programming jobs.

At the company’s Accelerate the Essential Economy conference, Farley divided up the workforce into two groups. Information work is revealed. While vocational work receives his term 'companion'.

The company uses about 10,000 skilled tradesmen in the country, accounting for about 20% of its 56,000 UAW staff members. Such tradesmen repair robots, deal with software, and work with automated equipment.

The line between manufacturing engineers and hourly trades workers is "completely blurred", Farley said. The megacasting equipment required for the upcoming Fathom electric pickup truck requires software and fluid dynamics skills. New factories look similar to semiconductor facilities rather than traditional assembly lines.

Dealerships follow the pattern. Ford is building AI guidance to walk a rural technician through a first engine job on a Super Duty.

Ford joined BlackRock, Google and Carhartt in the Alliance for America's Skilled Trades. Its report projects about 1.7 million openings a year through 2035. Training pathways produce 55 workers for every 100 needed.

The pipeline leaks. Only 48 of every 100 apprentices finish, and transport, childcare and income pressures are leading reasons.

Stanley Black & Decker CEO Chris Nelson said electricians are a bottleneck for data-centre construction, and his company built an autonomous drilling robot for repetitive rack and cable mounting.

Will workers trust the AI they maintain?

Farley's warning is blunt: workers may ignore AI systems if they fear the data will be used against them. Ford already gives employees AI vision tools to inspect panels. He knows the tension firsthand. His earlier work as a time-motion-study expert nearly led to physical altercations, he said.