Will AI end or enhance a career in engineering?

When the legendary American computer scientist Claude Shannon predicted a future in which “we will be to robots as dogs are to humans” the sci-fi nightmare of the rise of the robots inched closer to reality and into the realm of public debate. “I’m on the side of the machines”, he added, and since then the mainstream media has mostly followed his lead. 

Newspaper speculation over what the balance of the AI master-servant relationship will look like has become a daily event. Engineers will be familiar with the doom-laden newspaper headlines – and these are real – such as ‘March of the machines makes idle hands’, ‘Growing technologies: shrinking jobs’, and ‘Is this the start of the great AI jobs bloodbath?’ Elon Musk stated at VivaTech 2024 in Paris that he saw a future in which ‘none of us will have a job’.

On the other hand, in January 2025 Prime Minister Kier Starmer announced how his blueprint to “turbocharge” AI would set the UK on a trajectory of economic growth. The media is also capable of taking a positive approach, giving workers in the industrial sector cause for optimism when they read upbeat headlines like: ‘AI can give engineering a creative boost’, ‘AI to bring plenty of new roles too’, and ‘AI revolution ensures economy’s evolution’.