Ford Hires Back Former Engineers to Fix Errors Caused by AI

[AzScorpion]

AI is already causing more trouble than it’s worth in some areas. Ford underestimated the value of these engineers so now Ford has to hire back over 350 experienced engineers to fix AI’s mistakes. Who didn’t see this coming?

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2026...-former-engineers-to-fix-errors-caused-by-ai/

The Verge reports that Ford has revealed that its reliance on artificial intelligence and automated systems in vehicle production and design created significant quality problems, forcing the company to bring back experienced engineers and technicians to correct mistakes made by its robots.

Charles Poon, Ford’s vice president of vehicle hardware engineering, explained during a briefing with reporters this week that the automaker believed simply introducing AI and adjusting existing design requirements would automatically yield high-quality vehicles. “Mistakenly, we thought that by just introducing artificial intelligence and adjusting the design requirements that we had, that that would produce a high-quality product,” Poon said.
The problem was compounded when some of Ford’s most experienced personnel departed before their accumulated institutional knowledge could be fully captured by the company’s automated systems. This loss of expertise proved particularly damaging because the effectiveness of AI depends entirely on the quality of data used to train the models. Ford had underestimated the value of veteran engineers who had worked through multiple vehicle-development cycles and possessed deep understanding of potential problems that could emerge during production.
To address this gap, Ford hired, promoted, or brought back more than 350 experienced engineers to rebuild its technical expertise base. These seasoned professionals were tasked with retraining the automated systems and mentoring younger engineers who were struggling to maintain vehicle quality standards. “That’s where some of our most experienced engineers have had experience solving and identifying those problems before they creep into the system,” Poon said.

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[Stevedbvik1]

AI is already causing more trouble than it’s worth in some areas. Ford underestimated the value of these engineers so now Ford has to hire back over 350 experienced engineers to fix AI’s mistakes. Who didn’t see this coming?

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2026...-former-engineers-to-fix-errors-caused-by-ai/

Let’s think this through. You were originally hired by Ford as an engineer. Then Ford replaced you with AI. Their AI isn’t working properly and they hire you back to “fix” it. What happens next?

 

[Grumpaw]

AI is already causing more trouble than it’s worth in some areas. Ford underestimated the value of these engineers so now Ford has to hire back over 350 experienced engineers to fix AI’s mistakes. Who didn’t see this coming?

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2026...-former-engineers-to-fix-errors-caused-by-ai/

 

[CTYankee]

Let’s think this through. You were originally hired by Ford as an engineer. Then Ford replaced you with AI. Their AI isn’t working properly and they hire you back to “fix” it. What happens next?

It sounds to me like they were hired back to train their replacements. I wouldn't be counting on a lot of job security if I were one of them.

 

[Stevedbvik1]

It sounds to me like they were hired back to train their replacements. I wouldn't be counting on a lot of job security if I were one of them.

Or will they train them to make themselves irreplaceable?

 

[AzScorpion]

It sounds to me like they were hired back to train their replacements. I wouldn't be counting on a lot of job security if I were one of them.

To address this gap, Ford hired, promoted, or brought back more than 350 experienced engineers to rebuild its technical expertise base. These seasoned professionals were tasked with retraining the automated systems and mentoring younger engineers who were struggling to maintain vehicle quality standards. “That’s where some of our most experienced engineers have had experience solving and identifying those problems before they creep into the system,”

Yes and no. I've seen it way too many times where the company forces out the older experienced workers and replaces them with younger blood thinking they'l have fresh ideas and save some money. Most times it backfires and they call back the older workers to help fix the mess they created costing them more money.

There's a reason these "seasoned professionals" were getting paid well and got to where they were in the company. Unfortunately today it's more about the bottom line and keeping the shareholders happy then it is about keeping the customer happy.

 

[veedubtuner]

https://www.yahoo.com/autos/ownership/articles/ford-just-went-recall-nightmare-150000454.html

 

[AzScorpion]

https://www.yahoo.com/autos/ownership/articles/ford-just-went-recall-nightmare-150000454.html

While I hope this is true my first thought was...How much did they pay J D Power to print this

 

[ScarzRanger21(2.0)]

That’s a job I probably wouldn’t go back to. What happens when I fix your AI program, gonna let me go again? Lol reminds me of my old boss…

He flat out told me “you’re not worth more” when I asked for a raise. The next day, I called in sick to go interview with another company. I gave him 2 week’s notice the following Monday. He was calling me every couple weeks for a while, asking me to come back. He even said he’d pay me more… Sorry bud, that ship already sailed and you weren’t on it!

 

[Dr. Zaius]

AI is already causing more trouble than it’s worth in some areas. Ford underestimated the value of these engineers so now Ford has to hire back over 350 experienced engineers to fix AI’s mistakes. Who didn’t see this coming?

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2026...-former-engineers-to-fix-errors-caused-by-ai/

Hey Ford...

 

[CTYankee]

Yes and no. I've seen it way too many times where the company forces out the older experienced workers and replaces them with younger blood thinking they'l have fresh ideas and save some money. Most times it backfires and they call back the older workers to help fix the mess they created costing them more money.

There's a reason these "seasoned professionals" were getting paid well and got to where they were in the company. Unfortunately today it's more about the bottom line and keeping the shareholders happy then it is about keeping the customer happy.

Having worked at the executive level in a large corporation, it won't surprise me at all if Ford has 2 or 3 consecutive years of improved quality and then decides that now the AI systems have been properly trained and those human engineers are now expendable again.

 

[RedlandRanger]

Unfortunately today it's more about the bottom line and keeping the shareholders happy then it is about keeping the customer happy.

It's called sh$%tty management - nothing more than that. What continues to boggle my mind is how these incompetent "managers" don't get sacked - they make incredibly bad decisions that end up costing companies millions of dollars in many cases and they continue to be employed...

Don't get me started....

 

[AzScorpion]

It's called sh$%tty management - nothing more than that. What continues to boggle my mind is how these incompetent "managers" don't get sacked - they make incredibly bad decisions that end up costing companies millions of dollars in many cases and they continue to be employed...

Don't get me started....

I've been saying this about Farley for years. How he's continued to keep his job with all these recalls and the billions in losses is beyond me.

 

[Trustable]

Funny you just posted this today. I work at a professional services firm and was just notified I am being forced to utilize ai for time savings. Here’s the thing - for the type of work I do it won’t save time and will cause more issues. The PE firm that invested and the partners want to see an ROI within a month of adopting co pilot. Here’s is the thing - if I work less time due to using ai - I get penalized since I won’t be as billable - partners get bigger bonuses for write offs - savings don’t get passed to me so i get penalized again when review time comes.

Also, I would be pissed if I was our clients and saw we are charging the same amount but the work was done by an AI agent.

I cannot wait until the AI companies start charging the actual amount it costs to run these agents. No company in the world will be able to justify using it.

 

[Rocketeer61]

Let’s think this through. You were originally hired by Ford as an engineer. Then Ford replaced you with AI. Their AI isn’t working properly and they hire you back to “fix” it. What happens next?

They fire you again. Hopefully, none of those Engineers are naive enough to believe anything Ford says. A top down cleaning is what's actually needed here.

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