Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technologists and Technicians

Today, AI is starting to help with some routine tasks in electronics maintenance and testing. For example, modern systems can use sensors and AI algorithms to watch equipment and automatically detect faults or predict failures (this is called predictive maintenance) ^[1]. Engineers have built AI tools that can read circuit drawings and translate them into data ^[2].

However, most of these tools are still in research or special cases. In practice, technicians usually still look at the results themselves and decide what to do. One study even notes that validating an electrical design still requires “lots of manual efforts” because schematics come in many formats ^[3].

In short, machines can flag problems and help check work, but actually reading a wiring diagram or fixing hardware generally still needs a skilled person.

AI tools for this work are growing slowly. There are few off-the-shelf AI products made just for electronics technicians, and buying new AI-powered test machines can be expensive. In many shops, it’s still cheaper to pay a technician than to install a new system.

Also, electrical work is safety-critical and highly regulated, so companies move cautiously. On the upside, when downtime is very costly, firms do invest in AI monitoring ^[1]. But overall there are only modest changes: U.S. government projections show essentially flat job growth (about 1% over 2024–34) in this field ^[4].

In other words, most companies still rely on human skills. People bring judgment, creativity, and on-the-spot problem-solving that robots lack. So while AI can take over some repetitive checks, human technicians remain crucial for complex diagnostics, repairs, and safety.