DETROIT (FOX 2) – United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain is sounding the alarm on the rise of artificial intelligence in the auto industry and the threat he says it poses to jobs.

Big picture view:

UAW President Fain joined labor leaders on Capitol Hill demanding safeguards, so workers don’t get left behind. He compared the onset of AI to the beginning of NAFTA.

Something organized labor has blamed for wiping out millions of manufacturing jobs and harming several working-class communities. Labor leaders are demanding lawmakers enact safeguards to protect their rank and file members.

Meantime, auto insiders say AI has been used for at least a decade now when it comes to things like quality inspection, troubleshooting and maintenance and more recently with self-driving cars.

What they’re saying:

Cheryl Thompson specializes in AI enablement and spent 31 years at Ford starting out in skilled trades.

“I think we need to teach people how this makes you do your job easier,” said consultant Cheryl Thompson. “What’s the value for me? So, if I’m a skilled trades worker, I’m going to be thinking about how is this going to help me with getting more pay possibly, thinking about a career ladder. I’m going to be thinking about how is this going to help me stay relevant and how is it going to help me have a seat at the table. All of these plants that are being built or retrofitted — they’re going to be AI assisted, and so we need skilled trades to make that happen. So there needs to be a partnership.”

FOX 2 also heard from Joe Tavares, Chief Innovation Officer at Resolute Building Intelligence.

“My expectation is there’s going to be additional QA and the quality assurance at the end of the tail is going to be a little more difficult to automate than like picking a piece of sheet metal up and holding it,” said Tavares.

What’s next:

Labor leaders vow to continue to press for those safeguards, especially in future contracts.