tl;dr: Ford rehired over 350 veteran engineers ("gray beards") after its push toward AI-driven quality control systems produced costly failures, with executives admitting the automation lacked the nuanced judgment needed for complex problems. Since bringing back human expertise, Ford topped J.D. Power's Initial Quality Survey among mainstream brands for the first time in 16 years. The company will continue using AI, but now paired with human oversight rather than as a replacement.