Ford's AI experiment backfires as car giant rehires humans

Ford has admitted its push to rely heavily on AI fell short, revealing it has hired hundreds of veteran engineers after concluding the technology alone could not deliver the quality improvements it expected.

The US automaker has hired more than 350 veteran engineers over the past three years to help address quality problems that have cost the company billions of dollars.

Ford, however, insisted it is not abandoning AI and said the improvements have come from combining the technology with decades of engineering expertise.

'This reorg allowed us to look at the entire lifecycle of a vehicle – from software development to suppliers on our plant floor - as one continuous and collaborative flow,' a Ford spokesperson told the Daily Mail.

'At the same time, we have rallied the whole company around a clear vision: Quality Comes First. We've built a culture of relentless problem-solving and recognizing our teams when they prevent issues from reaching customers.

'Using AI is just a small part of this. One tool in a toolbox and culture that relies on experience and expertise as it does modern manufacturing tools.'

The so-called 'gray beard' engineers - many of them former Ford employees or recruits from suppliers - were brought in to reprogram the company's AI tools and tackle quality problems that have cost Ford billions of dollars.

'Artificial intelligence is a fantastic tool, but it's only as good as the information you use to train it,' Charles Poon, Ford's vice president of vehicle hardware engineering, told Bloomberg and other reporters on a call Wednesday.

Ford has admitted its push to rely heavily on AI fell short, revealing it has hired hundreds of veteran engineers after concluding the technology alone could not deliver the quality improvements it expected

Chief operating officer Kumar Galhotra told the outlet the company implemented mandatory meetings to troubleshoot quality issues and reprogrammed AI tools to identify glitches before they occur

The US automaker has hired more than 350 veteran engineers over the past three years to help address quality problems that have cost the company billions of dollars

'Over prior years, we didn't pay as much attention as we should have to the experience of our most knowledgeable engineers that have been with us through many product cycles.'

Chief operating officer Kumar Galhotra told the outlet the company implemented mandatory meetings to troubleshoot quality issues and reprogrammed AI tools to identify glitches before they occur.

Galhotra acknowledged Ford's reliance on automated quality systems alone did not produce the 'desired results,' prompting the automaker to bring back technical specialists to 'hunt for failure points before a part ever reaches the plant floor.'

Ford says pairing experienced engineers with its AI tools has helped improve vehicle quality.

'We're seeing our warranty coverages come down. We're seeing our recall costs come down,' Chief Executive Officer Jim Farley said Thursday on Bloomberg TV.

'These are all contributing to literally hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars of a tailwind for Ford on cost.'

The company also remains on track to achieve its goal of cutting $1 billion in costs this year.

Ford learned that AI could not replace the expertise accumulated by longtime engineers.

Ford says pairing experienced engineers with its AI tools has helped improve vehicle quality 

Chief Executive Officer Jim Farley said the company is seeing warranty and recall costs decline, helping drive hundreds of millions of dollars in savings

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'Mistakenly, we thought that by just introducing artificial intelligence and ingesting the design requirements that we had, that that would produce a high-quality product,' Poon said.

He added that the only way to get the most out of the company's automation, machine learning and AI tools is to ensure 'they were trained by the most experienced individuals.'

The strategy appears to have paid off. Ford climbed to the top of J.D. Power's closely watched Initial Quality Study among mainstream brands, finishing ahead of rivals Toyota and Honda and behind only luxury brands Porsche and Genesis overall.

The result marked a significant turnaround after Ford ranked 10th among mainstream brands and below the industry average in last year's survey.

Three Ford models - the F-150 pickup, Super Duty truck and Mustang sports car - ranked highest in their respective categories.

Ford nevertheless remains the most recalled automaker in the US despite the improved quality rankings. The company said it expects about $1 billion in warranty and material costs this year.

Galhotra said recalls are a 'lagging indicator' of vehicle quality and predicted they would decline as newer models reach customers.

By focusing on preventing issues 'upfront,' he said Ford expects recall numbers to 'steadily come down with the newer vehicles.'