Editor's note: Don't be spooked by "automation hysteria"...

Artificial-intelligence ("AI") tools like ChatGPT are quickly gaining momentum, which has some folks worried that AI could threaten everyday jobs.

But in today's Masters Series, originally from the May 12 issue of the Chaikin PowerFeed e-letter, Marc Chaikin – founder of our corporate affiliate Chaikin Analytics – says the arguments against a revolutionary technology like AI are par for the course...

They've Always Hated This Advancement

By Marc Chaikin, founder, Chaikin Analytics

They thought Henry Ford II wanted to eliminate them... but he really gave them new life.

After World War II, a period of prosperity and rapid industrialization began in the U.S.

Factories that previously churned out bombers and tanks to support the war efforts were reborn. They started producing everything from refrigerators to TVs to new cars.

But folks didn't embrace all the changes of the postwar boom...

Workers at Ford Motor's (F) factory in Detroit went on a 25-day strike in 1949. The strike paralyzed the assembly line. And it eventually involved more than 100,000 workers.

The striking workers left hundreds of half-finished Tudor sedans sitting on the factory floor.

Specifically, they hated Ford Motor President and CEO Henry Ford II's plan to "automate" production. He wanted to add a modern stamping plant, two engine plants, and a foundry.

In other words, Ford wanted to use machines to increase efficiency.

Understandably, the idea of machines replacing human auto workers at the factory led to an "automation hysteria." Practically everyone in the plant thought they would lose their jobs.

In reality... the opposite happened.

The automation machines made cars faster than Ford's army of human workers. They could stamp, cut, weld, and spray paint faster – all without posing a risk to human health.

But the machines at the factory still needed human operators...

Someone had to move the cars from machine to machine throughout the assembly process. And the machines couldn't tell on their own if they needed to speed up or slow down.

The machines also couldn't tell if a bolt was out of place, a fender seemed out of shape, or if the paint was off. So when it came to ensuring quality, human workers were still essential.

After Ford introduced automation machinery, the company's annual production more than tripled from 1948 to 1957. And at the same time, its workforce grew 46%.

In other words, Ford's automation efforts didn't eliminate the army of human workers. The surge in productivity instead meant that the carmaker could scale its output many times higher.

Ford wasn't alone, either. The "golden age" of the U.S. car industry is well known today...

Every major carmaker pushed to automate its assembly lines around the same time. And annual U.S. car production boomed from 3.5 million in 1947 to 6.1 million in 1957.

That was only the start of U.S. carmakers shifting to more automation, of course.

The industry features roughly a third of all the country's industrial robots. An average carmaker operates 200 to 300 robots dedicated to simple tasks like machining and welding.

And these days, robots can do a lot more than just put cars together...

In 2023, the U.S. manufacturing industry reportedly had roughly 274 robot workers for every 10,000 human workers. That doesn't sound like a huge number. But these robots have eliminated the human element from many mundane and repetitive tasks in the manufacturing process.

According to preliminary data from the International Federation of Robotics, total installations of industrial robots in the U.S. car industry increased by nearly 11% last year.

Put simply, we've come a long way from the early days of automation – when workers feared for their jobs. Yet today, those early arguments are more familiar than ever...

I'm sure you've heard plenty of apocalyptic predictions about AI. That's the hot topic of the day.

But there's a kind of automation that most consumers aren't even thinking about. And one company involved is poised to disrupt one of the biggest parts of Americans' daily life...

It's all part of a new age of automation hysteria.

Of course, I don't have a crystal ball. So I can't say exactly what tomorrow will bring.

But it's clear that AI has sparked a huge long-term trend in the tech space. And it could offer massive potential rewards for investors who play it right...

Good investing,

Marc Chaikin

Editor's note: One thing is clear... the AI craze will continue to be a massive, long-term tailwind behind tech stocks.

Marc says investors that ignore this trend – and one company in particular – will regret it.

That's why Marc just hosted a special presentation that explains the massive change that's coming. Watch it for free and get all the details right here...