AI-based smart glasses: Co-pilot or work drone?

I recently listened to an interesting podcast interview with an expert from the Fraunhofer Institute, a German excellence research institute much like our CSIRO here in Australia. He spoke about the application of AI and particularly smart glasses in industrial settings. His explanations were quite interesting, especially the possibility of using these glasses in many production areas to support workers who might not be skilled tradespeople.

The approach is interesting: experts are interviewed to gather and prepare information (a role I’d love to be in). This knowledge then flows into a model that captures the context of the work using smart glasses. This allows users to ask questions or receive instructions about what to do, what was done incorrectly, and how to fix it.

The question of why

This all sounds very nice, but I always find myself asking why. I understand the skills shortage and the need for support, but are we at risk of becoming mere executors? Must we stick precisely to predetermined ideas and become willless co-pilots instead of drivers themselves? This concern relates directly to my thoughts on whether the boss with AI tools creates burnout in organisations.

Are we then relying too much on technology, becoming less creative and perhaps less engaged? Are we becoming work drones that are simply deployed where needed? I’m not sure how I would feel in such a world, and how my children would feel in it, should they not become the bosses and decision-makers of tomorrow who also have the best interests of people at heart. These questions are part of the larger discussion about the irreplaceable value of human experts in our increasingly AI-driven world, and how we might find better models for human-AI collaboration that preserve human agency.