David Swanson/Reuters
Artificial intelligence can do a growing number of tasks, but there’s a lot it can’t do.
“AI isn’t going to fix a hole in your roof,” said Lowe’s CEO Marvin Ellison. “It’s not going to respond to an electrical issue in your home. It’s not going to stop your water heater from leaking.”
Speaking Tuesday at Business Roundtable’s CEO Workforce Forum in Washington, DC, Ellison highlighted the large unmet demand for skilled trades workers in the US. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated in April that there were nearly a quarter million job openings in construction and 381,000 in manufacturing.
Whether on a construction site or in one of his 1,748 home improvement stores, Ellison said jobs working on the front lines will likely be some of the last to be disrupted by AI.
“When young people come to me and they desire to work in the corporate office, my advice to them is: stay as close to the cash register as you can,” he said. “Stay close to the customers, because you will always have employment opportunities to grow.”
Ellison’s comments came within hours of Amazon CEO Andy Jassy posting a memo that said the tech giant would likely “reduce” its white-collar workforce in the coming years due to AI.
He’s the latest in a chorus of executives predicting significant workplace disruption from AI in areas like customer service, tech functions, and entry-level office work.
The changes have led to more than a few younger workers shifting toward blue-collar work instead of the traditional debt-financed four-year undergraduate degree approach.
Ellison highlighted one such opportunity for young workers at Lowe’s: a program for Lowe’s employees offers tuition-free education for completing a two- or four-year curriculum. He said that employees who complete the program sometimes go on to work for Lowe’s customers.
“It could be a general contractor, could be a builder, and we’re perfectly OK with that,” Ellison said. “It fills the need that is much greater.”
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