Skilled Artisans That Are Not To Be Replaced By AI And ML Anytime Soon
A Note Before You Read When I set out to explore what AI and machine learning might mean for the skilled artisan, the available expert opinion was reassuring. Plumbers, it was suggested, were among the safest workers in the economy. The trades would survive the coming wave. But as my research progressed, a contrary picture began to emerge — one far more nuanced than I had been led to believe. I had already come too far to abandon the piece. So I am publishing it as it stands: a record of where the research began, and of what the experts were saying when I started. What I found in the closing stages is a different story, and it deserves its own telling. That is the follow-up. It will explore the convergence of AI, machine learning, and robotics — and why the plumber's protection may be a window rather than a wall. Read this piece as the first half of a longer conversation. The second half is coming. Coming soon: "The Window, Not the Wall: AI, Robotics, and the Coming Pressure o...