Is AI Coming to Replace Auto Manufacturing Jobs?
BMW builds 1500 cars per day and employs 11000 workers at its factory in Spartanburg, SC. But in the age of AI that might be about to change.
We recently had a chance to see 3rd gen autonomous AI robots from a company called Figure in action at the plant.
BMW insists it won’t replace workers with robots, but representatives did say these humanoids would ideally be used to do repetitive and strenuous jobs.
Recently General Motors took heat from its union for adding 50 robots to its Factory Zero plant in Michigan after laying off more than 1,000 workers.
The current struggle is the limited data they have to train with: while LLMs have scraped the vastness of the internet to build their models ( arguably illegally), Figure has to study humans wearing sensors operating in a factory.
So what do you think the future of manufacturing looks like? Amazing and innovative? Or a little creepy?
With AutoGuide from its launch, Colum previously acted as Editor-in-Chief of Modified Luxury & Exotics magazine where he became a certifiable car snob driving supercars like the Koenigsegg CCX and racing down the autobahn in anything over 500 hp. He has won numerous automotive journalism awards including the Best Video Journalism Award in 2014 and 2015 from the Automotive Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC). Colum founded Geared Content Studios, VerticalScope's in-house branded content division and works to find ways to integrate brands organically into content.
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Creepy, scary, and should be outlawed now! They didn't work well in, I, ROBOT!