Listening to another pitch about how AI can empower workers at various jobs across my industry, I was striken by the comparison in the title
3d printing, just like generative models, have it’s actual niche uses, where it’s obvious downsides are irrelevant and they come handy, e.g. prototyping, replacements, small-series production
Where it comes to the top-down AI promotion trend, it feels not unlike the idea of printing the whole product - a car, or a house, from the smallest details - applying the least effective method, doomed to have a worse than average outcome due to technological limitations
And screws, the thing that we nailed down long before, and that is completely incompatible with that mode of production, is a screaming, growling, shrieking example of how helpful tech can be mispurposed in the most stupid way
Idk about that. For some custom built things it might be a better manufacturing method than setting up a production line to cast the piece or forge or whatever. But outside of some really weird screws there are always going to be extremely competitively priced screws of almost every imaginable type. It’s hard to imagine you’re gonna beat that with 3d printing, given you can just buy the screws you need for not much more per pound than the metal its made from.