Ford rehires “Graybeard” engineers after artificial intelligence failure

Ford executives said they hired 350 veteran engineers — some former employees, while others worked for suppliers — after artificial intelligence and automated systems failed to deliver the required level of quality.

Bloomberg reports Ford was “relying more and more on automated quality systems” and the results were disappointing, Kumar Galhotra, the company’s chief operating officer, told reporters. So the company “brought back technical specialists,” and these specialists “look for points of failure before any part reaches the factory floor.”

“We mistakenly believed that just by introducing AI and understanding our design requirements, it would produce a higher-quality product,” added Charles Boone, Ford’s vice president of vehicle hardware engineering.

To be clear, this doesn’t mean Ford is abandoning its AI plans entirely. Instead, it uses rehired employees — referred to as “graybeard” engineers — to train younger employees and reprogram AI tools.

This repurposing appears to be paying off, as Ford expects it to reduce costs by $1 billion this year. The automaker also ranked first among major brands in J.D. Power’s Initial Quality Survey released this week.