AI Is Learning Skilled Workers' Know-How, and Pay Is the Open Question

Decades of hands-on experience from veteran factory workers are being converted into training data for artificial intelligence. As manufacturers digitize this know-how, a debate is growing over how much the workers who provide it should be paid and how new experts will be trained.

Companies have begun recording how skilled workers handle equipment, spot defects and respond to unexpected problems. The stated aim is to preserve that experience after veterans leave the floor and make it usable for younger colleagues.

The Compensation Gap in Korea's Manufacturing AI Project

In October, South Korea's National Assembly raised the issue of compensation in a government-backed manufacturing AI project. The project turns the experience of master craftspeople into data. Of the 30 consortiums taking part, 14 set their research allowances below 20 percent of labor costs, short of the level recommended by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources, which oversees industrial policy. The lowest-ranked consortium set aside just 0.97 percent of labor costs.

Skill in manufacturing is more than remembering how to perform a task for a long time. It includes judging the condition of equipment, telling apart subtle changes in production and tracing the cause when something unexpected goes wrong. Written work instructions can be read by anyone, but the judgment to act well on the floor varies with experience.

There is also concern that when AI takes over tasks, younger workers may get fewer chances to build that experience themselves.

Why It Matters

As companies turn human expertise into data, fair pay for those who provide it and a path for growing the next generation of skilled workers will shape how this technology is accepted on the factory floor.

Read the original article in Korean: K trendy NEWS