The debate surrounding the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on employment is ongoing. Some optimists believe that AI will follow historical patterns of automation and result in reallocation of workers to other jobs. Pessimists argue that this time will be different, as AI can perform tasks cheaper than humans. Understanding the history of automation, such as in welding, can provide insights into how AI will affect the job market. Early welding machines were inflexible and mainly used for large volumes of similar parts. With the introduction of robots, welding automation became more flexible but still required human programming. Today, AI and computer vision are being explored for welding automation, but their competitiveness with manual programming is still uncertain. Overall, advances in welding automation have impacted the job market, particularly reducing the need for welding machine operators, but have had a lesser effect on skilled welder employment.
https://www.construction-physics.com/p/welding-and-the-automation-frontier