📌 TOPINDIATOURS Update ai: Doctor Reels as Son Becomes Plumber in Age of AI Wajib

Fear not, dreary laborer. There will always be back-breaking jobs you can do when your office ones get taken over by obsequious AI models.

For one reason or another, plumbing is the profession that AI figures keep coming back to when they assure us that there’ll still be leftovers after a AI jobs apocalypse. A new piece in the Financial Times explores how plumbing has become the “career talisman” in an age of automation, and how this grates with traditional social perceptions of these professions.

Take one doctor’s reaction to her son’s decision to become a plumber. The first in her family to go to university, she told the FT she felt “oddly guilty” about his career choice, as if she was letting down her parents who worked hard to elevate her social and academic position.

It felt like “I was somehow not paying forward,” she told the FT. “Am I the blip in my family’s more traditional working-class journey?”

It points to an interesting cultural moment. A recent Wired piece cited Anirban Basu, chief economist of construction industry trade group Associated Builders and Contractors, who described how in earlier eras, tradespeople passed their skills down to their children, but eventually started encouraging them to pursue higher education instead. Basu claimed that, as a result, construction workers with the most advanced skills are now entering retirement age. Meanwhile, a Jobber survey cited by the FT found that only seven percent of parents would prefer their kids to pursue a trade or vocation. 

On the one hand, skilled trades like plumbers and electricians seem like safe bets amid uncertainty over how AI will automate white collar jobs ranging from writers, secretaries, doctors, to even the programmers building the AI systems themselves. And why shouldn’t skilled vocations be seen with the same prestige and appreciation as white collar callings?

In fact, the Wired piece reported on how demand for construction workers was being driven by the AI boom. With the rapid build out of AI data centers, there’s an increased shortage of these skilled tradespeople that can help build these advanced facilities. A McKinsey study estimated that an additional 130,000 trained electricians would be needed in the US between 2023 and 2030. Tech companies themselves are sounding the alarm, with Google last year donating an undisclosed amount to the Electrical Training Alliance. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, proclaimed that “if you’re an electrician, you’re a plumber, a carpenter — we’re going to need hundreds of thousands of them to build all of these factories.”

But on the other hand, there’s a certain nefarious element to powerful figures glorifying physically grueling professions that aren’t easy to get into. Kepler Ridge told the FT that he credited the money he made through plumbing for being able to buy a home. But after six years in the trade, he left to go to grad school for biology, and provided words of caution to other people who wanted to take up plumbing themselves.

“It was extremely physical,” he told the FT. I was exhausted at the end of every single day. I found myself wanting to come home and go to bed.” 

What’s more, while there’s demand for these jobs, there’s no guarantee you’ll even be able to nab an apprenticeship. And you’ll be competing against everyone else trying to get in while the going’s supposed to be good, too. In northern Virginia, home to the country’s “data center alley” where construction of these facilities continues to surge, there’s no shortage of people applying to become plumbers, Chris Madello, an international representative with the United Association, told Wired.

“We always have far more people applying than we actually accept into our apprenticeship programs,” Madello added.

More on AI: AI Agent Frets That Its Job Could Be Replaced by AI

The post Doctor Reels as Son Becomes Plumber in Age of AI appeared first on Futurism.

🔗 Sumber: futurism.com

📌 TOPINDIATOURS Eksklusif ai: FCC bans new foreign-made routers over rising US cyb

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has moved to block the import of new foreign-made consumer routers, escalating Washington’s push to secure domestic networks from potential cyber threats.

The decision targets devices that connect homes and businesses to the internet, a critical layer of modern infrastructure.

Officials say the move follows a security review coordinated by the White House.

That review flagged imported routers as a high-risk entry point for cyberattacks.

The new order stops future imports but does not affect devices already in use across the country.

Regulators say this approach avoids disruption for current users while tightening controls on future network equipment entering the U.S. market.

Security risks highlighted

The FCC says foreign-made routers pose a direct threat to U.S. systems.

The agency warned that such devices could act as weak points in national infrastructure.

It said imported routers present “a severe cybersecurity risk ⁠that could be leveraged to immediately and severely disrupt U.S. critical infrastructure.”

Officials added that attackers have already used these vulnerabilities in real-world operations.

They linked the concerns to major cyber campaigns, including Volt and Salt Typhoon.

The agency said malicious actors had exploited security gaps in foreign-made routers “to attack households, disrupt networks, enable espionage, and facilitate intellectual property theft.”

Experts have long warned that routers sit at the edge of every connected environment.

That position makes them an attractive target for persistent access and large-scale disruption.

China plays a major role in the U.S. router market.

Estimates suggest Chinese-linked manufacturers supply at least 60% of consumer routers used in American homes.

Lawmakers have raised concerns about this dependency for years.

They argue that reliance on foreign hardware creates systemic risks and limits domestic control over critical digital infrastructure.

Representative John Moolenaar welcomed the FCC’s decision.

He framed it as a national security measure tied to broader geopolitical tensions.

“Today’s tremendous decision by the FCC and the Trump ‌administration protects ⁠our country against China’s relentless cyberattacks and makes it clear that these devices should be excluded from our critical infrastructure,” Moolenaar said, as quoted by Reuters.

He added, “Routers are key to keeping us all connected and we cannot allow Chinese technology to be at the center of that.”

Exemptions and legal battle

The order includes a narrow exemption.

The Pentagon can approve certain routers if it determines they do not pose unacceptable risks.

At the same time, legal pressure is building against major manufacturers.

Last month, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against TP-Link Systems.

The lawsuit accuses the company of deceptive marketing practices.

It also alleges that its devices allowed unauthorized access tied to Beijing.

TP-Link rejected those claims and said it would “vigorously defend” its reputation.

The company stated that the Chinese government has no ownership or control over its operations, products, or user data.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington has not issued a response.

The FCC’s decision signals a sharper turn in U.S. tech policy.

It reflects growing concern over supply chain security, data integrity, and foreign influence in critical technologies.

🔗 Sumber: interestingengineering.com