The Best Manufacturers Build AI with Workers, Not for Them

Executives are optimistic about AI’s potential to transform manufacturing. Workers, on the other hand, are more skeptical. In a seven-week internal unpublished study of video diaries from 85 frontline workers across six industries in Australia, the UK and the United States, we asked workers to describe how emerging technologies, including AI, are being introduced into their jobs, what training they receive, and how they see their future. Across industries, distrust ran deep, of both the tools and the organizations deploying them. More than three-quarters of participants said they were dissatisfied with their training. Many were uncertain about how their roles would change or whether they would have a place in the future factory.