Amid fears of AI-induced job losses, Anand Mahindra warns about ‘far bigger crisis’ hitting the world

Amid fears about Artificial Intelligence (AI) stealing jobs, Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra has sounded a warning of a bigger crisis that is coming our way.

In a post on X, Anand Mahindra said that while people are busy worrying about AI wiping out white-collar jobs, a far bigger crisis is being overlooked— the lack of skilled trades.

He cited a podcast by Ford CEO Jim Farley, who said that mechanic jobs at the company paying $120,000 a year have no takers.

“Ford CEO Jim Farley made a startling revelation in a recent podcast: Ford has 5,000 mechanic jobs unfilled, many paying $120,000 a year, and still no takers. Across the US, over a million essential roles in plumbing, electrical work, trucking and factory operations lie vacant,” he said.

Anand Mahindra warned that this isn’t the future. “It’s happening now.”

AI can't replace these jobs

The Mahindra Group chairman argued that while desk jobs can be replaced, work that requires real-world skills cannot be taken away.

“For decades, we pushed degrees and desk jobs to the top of the “aspirational” ladder and quietly pushed skilled trades to the bottom. Yet these are the jobs AI cannot replace: they require judgment, dexterity, apprenticeship, and real-world expertise,” he said.

Mahindra asked: “So the real question is: Are we about to witness a reset in what society considers a dream career?”

If this trend continues, he said, people who can actually build, fix, and keep the world running will be the biggest winners of the AI era.

“Marx imagined workers rising through struggle. He never imagined they’d rise because they became too skilled, too scarce, and too essential to replace. A revolution not through violence… but through value-discovery,” he said.

What did netizens say?

Anand Mahindra's take sparked an intense discussion on X, with netizens agreeing with the industrialist and highlighting how important skilled trade is.

“Spot on! We've been so dazzled by AI's glow that we've dimmed the light on the trades that keep our world spinning. Imagine: robots coding code, but humans still needed to wire the servers. The real revolution? Elevating apprenticeships to PhD status. Who's ready to trade the cubicle for the toolbox,” a person said.

Another person said that essential work is the new aspiration amid an oversupply of workers with just degrees.

“It is wild how a culture obsessed with degrees forgot the people who actually make society function. Mechanics. Electricians. Plumbers. Truckers. Skilled workers who built the world while the world chased titles. And now the demand has flipped. High pay. Zero supply. AI looming over corporate desks while human hands become priceless. The cinematic switch hits when you imagine a generation discovering that essential work is the new aspiration. A reset not driven by fear but by value. The kind of value we ignored for too long. This moment feels important. Hold it.”

“Funny how we made everyone feel bad about working with their hands, and now those same people are impossible to replace and getting paid like doctors. The economy just told us what real scarcity looks like, and we were not even listening,” a third user added.