Shift to Remote-Controlled Dams, Trains Raises Unions’ Alarm (1)

While economists and policymakers have sounded alarms that workers will someday be replaced by artificial intelligence and automation technology, it’s already well underway in critical pieces of infrastructure essential to the US supply chain.

The technology will replace Michael Arendt, who guides thousands of tons of goods each year through the large metal gates he pulls open and shut during his 12-hour shifts at the Howell Heflin Lock and Dam near Gainesville, Ala. Items that businesses need, such as shipping fertilizer and dry goods, move via the rivers and dams connected by the navigational locks like the ones operated by ...