Fears of AI-driven job losses in manufacturing misplaced, expert says

ProtoCase co-founder Dough Milburn says AI will act as a 'tireless assistant,' not a job killer, as factories evolve in 2026.

Artificial intelligence is becoming more visible on factory floors, but fears of sweeping job losses in manufacturing are misplaced, one expert says.

Doug Milburn, the co-founder of Protocase, a Canadian aerospace manufacturing company, says AI is best understood as a tool that supports workers, rather than replacing them.

“AI is best used as an assistant to human beings … a human being’s savant, tireless assistant,” Milburn said in an interview with CTV Your Morning on Tuesday. “I think that’s how you’re going to see it come in.”

In an article for Industrial Equipment News last December titled “The Human Advantage in the Age of Automation,” Milburn argued that organizations will thrive by treating technology as a partner, instead of a substitute for human talent.

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He wrote that AI, automation, robotics and digital tools are increasingly being used to handle repetitive, dangerous and highly precise work, freeing employees to focus on tasks that require creativity, judgment and problem-solving.

Milburn said that shift is already beginning, even if it is not always obvious on the factory floor.

“When we bend sheet metal, we apply coatings, we cut blocks of metal, (AI is) not going to directly affect that,” he said. “It’s the control of it. It’s that flow of information from the customer … from regulatory to engineering to work instructions to programming. That’s what it’s going to affect.”

Still, concerns about AI displacing workers persist.

Geoffrey Hinton, the University of Toronto professor emeritus widely known as the “Godfather of AI,” said in an interview on the Diary of a CEO podcast last year that AI will change the job market, with many workers at risk of being replaced by machines.

Milburn said history suggests those fears should be put into context.

“Automation aids us. It makes us more productive,” he said. “We see automation everywhere. People use (it) to make better, more valuable things, which leads to more employment.”

He compared today’s AI debate to earlier technological shifts, from textile mills during the Industrial Revolution to the introduction of computers in white-collar offices.

“They didn’t take away much work,” he said. “As far as I can say, it made more work.”

In his article, Milburn stressed that while AI can improve precision and reduce errors, “mission-critical decisions, problem-solving, and innovation still rely on human insight.”

“The future is not about replacing the workforce,” he wrote. “It is about elevating it.”

With files from CTV National News senior correspondent John Vennavally-Rao