Ford rehired hundreds of experienced engineers after discovering its AI systems couldn't match human expertise in vehicle design and quality control. The company initially believed AI could replace experienced engineers by processing design requirements, but the strategy produced defective products—forcing it to bring back veteran staff to retrain the AI systems and fix manufacturing problems. Ford has since climbed back to No. 1 in JD Power's quality rankings for the first time in 16 years, suggesting the hybrid human-AI approach actually works better than either alone. The story illustrates a broader tech industry lesson: AI augmentation often works better than replacement, and domain expertise remains difficult to automate away entirely.