Is your plumber using AI? What about your car mechanic?

If they aren’t yet, they could be soon, said Michael Connet, a leader at the Association for Career and Technical Education. Take a typical plumber’s tool.

“I get really excited thinking about the old spanner, the old wrench that every plumber in the country has,” Connect said. “Well imagine when you have AI built into that tool when you’ll know how much torque you’re actually applying to something,”

He says these smart wrenches could even connect with AI-infused smart glasses.

“And the two together are going to tell you don’t honk on that pipe too hard or you’re going to break it,” Connect said. “That tool exists today.”

Students at Dakota County Technical College in Rosemount, MN are being encouraged to experiment with AI as they diagnose the cause of car breakdowns.

Jeffrey Copeland, an automotive technology instructor here, stands under a pickup explaining steering systems.

“You hear that knocking sound,” he said. “Something’s loose in there. What is it?”

Copeland and a colleague built a custom AI tool that can walk students through basic repairs. If the student gets stuck, and the teacher is off helping others, said Copeland, “they can keep working, and then I can spend my energy just like we did with the pickup where I’m explaining the stuff that AI can’t do, showing them physically how to check things and what to look for.”

Most of these students also work part-time in local auto garages. And some of them say they’re starting to use AI regularly at work. That’s true for student Tyler Bjorkstrand.

“I’ll use the camera feature,” he said. “And you can ask it what is this part, and it will tell you. It helps a lot pinpointing different areas of what could possibly be wrong with a car.”

There are challenges to turning to AI in the trades though. When the instructors had AI generate images for their teaching materials, some were wildly inaccurate. The AI would make things like a warning indicator light appearing in the car’s rear window instead of on the dash.

The instructors said AI can especially help students learn to communicate with customers. They even made an AI exercise where a chatbot pretends to be an upset customer.

“I can’t believe I’m back here again. This is absolutely ridiculous, my car still isn’t fixed,” said the chatbot during the exercise.

Julia Perrine, a student here, said talking isn’t her strong suit. She took a deep breath and prepared to sooth this simulated customer.

“I’m so sorry to hear this,” Perrine said. “I promise we’re doing everything we can to fix this.”

Perrine said that she’s finding AI especially useful to help write up service reports for customers.

“Being able to put simple things out and AI being able to write it where anyone can understand and it’s in the wording other people want to have it it’s a great tool,” she said.

And that gives her more time to focus on repairs.

“Especially as a tech, time is how you make money,” Perrine said.

In this auto tech class at Dakota County Technical College, none of the students here are worried about being replaced by AI anytime soon. Including 18-year-old Izzy Toth, who is training to become an auto tech.

“I chose my profession for job security,” said Togh. “I don’t think a robot is ever going to do what we do.”

 AI is a helpful tool. But for now, the trades still require humans, and hands.