AI will make engineering skills more valuable, not less, a survey of Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering has argued.
To mark National Engineering Day this week (4 November), a new survey of 101 Fellows, research grant holders and prize winners by the academy found that more than nine in ten (92%) agreed systems thinking, problem-solving and critical thinking – the habits of mind at the core of engineering – will become more valuable, even in the age of AI.
Three-quarters (75%) agreed strongly, and just 2% disagreed. More than three-quarters (77%) expected AI to create a new generation of engineering roles and specialisms that barely exist today and only 26% feared we will lose more jobs than we gain.
Many, the poll found, already use AI to search and summarise, draft documents, write code, analyse data and some use it for modelling and design iteration.
More than two-thirds (68%) said AI will change how engineers work “a great deal” over the next five years.
Looking ahead, respondents expect a division of labour, not a replacement. Two-thirds (67%) felt that, after 2030, most engineers will share tasks with AI.
They expect the engineer’s job to shift from producing every part of the work to framing problems, checking what AI produces, and taking responsibility for the decisions.
Respondents repeatedly warned that AI’s outputs can look convincing and still be wrong, making critical thinking even more important, together with development of sensible standards.
Asked to imagine engineering jobs 50 years from now, respondents forecast that we will have AI safety engineers, AI accountability engineers, and AI forensic engineers, who will investigate why AI models go rogue or fail.
Seven in 10 (69%) nevertheless expected demand for newly qualified engineering graduates to rise, and 77% expect demand for engineers with vocational qualifications in their sector to rise over the next five years.
Sir John Lazar, president of the Royal Academy of Engineering, said: “Britain’s leading engineers are telling us that there is room for optimism in an age of AI. Many of them use AI in their own work and recruit engineers themselves, and they believe that engineering skills will become even more vital as we work alongside AI to improve the world around us.
The academy has launched recruitment campaign to inspire the next generation of innovators. ‘Now Hiring: The Engineers of 2076’ is a series of job adverts for engineering roles that don’t yet exist – shaped by an expert panel of engineers and technologists.
From ‘Living City Shapers’ designing buildings that repair their own cracks, to ‘Lunacycle Creators’ building bicycles for commuting on the moon, and ‘Haptic Hologram Makers’ letting surgeons rehearse operations before they pick up a scalpel, each advert links to the ‘AI-Z of Engineering’, a future-focused guide to engineering careers of today and tomorrow, the academy said.
“The engineers – and future Fellows of our Academy – who will shape life in 2076 are at school today, the first generation to grow up with AI. Inspiring them to see themselves creating that future starts now,” he added.
Image: Pexels
