Posted on 02/18/2026 10:07:08 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Elon Musk just identified which jobs go first, and it destroys every assumption about who’s safe.
Musk: “AI is going to take over those jobs like lightning. Anything that is digital, which is like just someone at a computer doing something.”
Not factory workers. Office workers. The people who spent decades assuming education and desk jobs meant security are actually first.
Musk: “Anything that’s physically moving atoms… those jobs will exist for a much longer time.”
Output is a file? Vulnerable. Output is physical? Protected. That’s the entire framework.
Musk: “AI is really still digital.”
AI doesn’t need a body. Doesn’t need an office. Just needs access to the same software you use. Executes faster. Never tires. Costs nothing to scale.
But it can’t weld. Can’t wire a building. Can’t fix pipes or work soil.
Musk: “Literally welding, electrical work, plumbing. Those jobs will exist for a much longer time.”
Trades aren’t the vulnerable jobs. They’re the durable ones. Physical presence, real-world adaptation, manual dexterity provide protection no digital credential offers.
Analyst, accountant, paralegal, programmer, anyone producing files and documents, automates first because digital work is exactly what AI does natively.
Person moving atoms has natural defense. Physics, unpredictable environments, material resistance create friction AI can’t scale past.
Person moving bits has nothing. No friction. No physical barrier. Just software AI already operates better than most humans.
The assumption that desk work and degrees represent safety just inverted completely. College graduate producing documents faces faster displacement than the electrician producing installations.
Society spent generations telling people trades were beneath them. Pushed everyone toward offices and screens. Turns out the people who didn’t listen built the most automation-resistant careers.
Most ironic outcome of the AI revolution. The work society treated as inferior turned out to be the work society couldn’t replace. And the work society valued most turned out to be the easiest to eliminate.
“Will humans be hired to detect and fix the errors?”
Might be that AI errors will be so numerous that it’s cheaper to use humans.
Scholarly documents give references to the sources of information used. If an AI document doesn’t give its sources, then it’s no good to base important decisions on.
I deliver mail. No AI can do what I do.
“You’ve obviously have never worked in the programming department. I suppose that if your shop is making door hinges and other similar widgets it could function in AI. But you get into mold making, automotive or rocket engine parts etc...basically any complex geometries (which is the vast majority of CNC production even now), and then throw in tooling design, troubleshooting, cutter applications and procurement, proof of concept validation, along with first-article part/process inspection and the inherent troubleshooting with just that phase alone?”
We are pleased to tell you that if you buy $2 millions of machinery from us you can make the part.
My other options?
Cleveland Cast Metal Parts....
Guns can have really complicated parts.
Mike Rowe been saying this for years.
Like the dialogue from the home warranty ad: “AI ain’t gonna fix your broken water line.”
“any complex geometries (which is the vast majority of CNC production even now)”
Much of the complex work has already been done in the firearms and vehicle industries.
I agree with you, and I am doing some AI work.
They’ll still get paid though. They always do.
Yeah man. Its obvious that you have never really worked in that environment. You are an arm-chair manufacturing engineer. Congratulations.
Stealth takedown of the swamp. If the dems ever get back they will get a shock when they see everything, every expenditure, every account code has been computerized and is transparent by all levels of the administrative swamp. Every jot tittl and penny is accounted for and justified five ways to sunday. The question is how will they circumvent the new system? with hand written vouchers? of course they will try.
The world will bend to the manufacturing.
Now one can buy floors with the piping already in it for heat.
Pretty soon there will be catalog houses with components all built in.
“Cad does not know raw part geometry, only knows finished part geometry. To machine a finished part from a raw casting or forging or even a simple round steel material involves multiple cuts and tool motions, which CAD has no knowledge of.
The auto companies probably farm out most part production.
I assume the parts makers would have the special software. The engineer would send off the CAD drawing of the part to qualified part makers.
When AI is integrated into robots that water line will get fixed and not by home warranty.
“catalog houses” were common about 110 years ago.
AI is already smarter than the smartest humans and it’s not even close. But keep telling yourself that if it makes you happy.
“Now one can buy floors with the piping already in it for heat.”
AI might figure out where I might be and heat the places accordingly.
When Archie’s door opens around 5pm the area of his chair might be cooled.
When your car leaves work your heating system might step up the temperature.
“components all built in”
The problem is wallboard might crack.
Of course, there are mobile homes.
IOW “women are hit the hardest!”
I think his point is that AI is still in its early stages. AI is now assisting in creating a better AI.
What in 5 years? 10?
Not factory workers. Office workers.
The D.C. swamp needs to be first and fast.
Musk: “Literally welding, electrical work, plumbing. Those jobs will exist for a much longer time.”
So Mike Rowe has been ahead of the curve.
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