Ford on why it hired 350 'gray beard' engineers: you need their mentorship for younger workers — and to drive huge AI productivity gains

Photo of Jim Farley (Credit: Carter Smith/Bloomberg—Getty Images)

WIth all the discussion about the AI bubble, AI hype, and mass automation displacement, Ford Motor Company has a message for the U.S. economy: Human experience matters.

Over the last three years, the company has hired 350 veteran engineers—dubbed “gray beards” internally and made up of both former Ford employees and workers from suppliers—to help train junior staff and reprogram ineffective artificial intelligence tools. It’s because the company realized what AI is and isn’t good for.