So, should marine techs be bothered about AI? The way I see it, not for the for the foreseeable future. The reasons that sparked this post are not really interesting, let me explain, a client had some alarms with codes come up on the digital screen that shows the data for their motors, in this case Yamaha outboards, which by and large are reliable and had never given any issues before, so, they sent a screenshot of the errors, along with what Chatgpt said was the problem, well, the results could not have been more wrong if they tried, AI was pointing to an overheating problem, when, very clearly on the screen, joystick piloting, then on the next line, GPS coverage, the reason the joystick piloting was limited was because the GPS coverage was poor or non existent.
In a broad strokes, Chatgpt works by "reading" data from the internet, so the codes it fired back were possibly at some time related to overheating but on a much older motor, not these ones, could it be that the information for these error codes was not public information? not likely, some information had been trawled up from the bowels of searching. I could have got all cheesed off and "don't tell me how to do my job", but I didn't, it reminded me of why AI is not likely to impact marine technicians and skilled labor on boats.
Artisanal work
There are some amazing videos, forums, social media groups and so on that showcase peoples work on boats, much of it is more artistic than scientific needing manual skills. AI could be very useful for some things, calculations, product finding and probably if you are a boatbuilder, hydrodynamics, simulations, but right now at least, it will never replace that mechanic, carpenter, glassfibre repair people, electricians, you need a lot of experience and a lot of practice to get right. Making mistakes and problem solving, diagnostics, tests, and, just a pinch of intuition are all part of the process.
Its not hard to find lots of videos on social media and other outlets where there are discussions on how AI is shaping business and what jobs will be filled by AI and what industries will boom, I am confident that boatbuilding and boatyards will not be affected.
Navigation
You will notice that I have kept saying boatyards, not shipyards, boatyards for me refers to recreational boating and not large megayachts or commercial shipping, these branches of boating will probably be enhanced by AI, and, much the same as F1 technology trickles down to cars on the street, advanced navigational instruments controlled by AI or using AI features will find their way into recreational boating eventually. I don't think we will see too much in the near future, I would imagine right now, we are at least ten years away, the newest electronics will need to prove themselves in the professional field before being unleased onto the recreational boat market.
Although I am not necessarily a big fan of having my electronics under the control of anyone but me, I can actually see benefits to future developments I have seen being developed, anything we can do to improve safety can only be a good thing. These newest instruments will also keep electricians, electronics installers and repair technicians in employment, so AI working in parallel with the original intelligence.
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