Engineering in the Age of Thinking Machines

Have you tried AI yet? You should. Engineering is entering a new era where machines don’t just calculate. Thinking machines will create new augmented workflows that allow more to be accomplished in a single day.

The skills that matter most will shift. Data fluency will become a baseline requirement, much like spreadsheets are today. The real premium will be on judgment: knowing which problems matter, framing the right questions, and making sense of trade-offs when algorithms give multiple paths forward. Communication skills will be paramount as engineers must translate machine insights into strategies that leaders, regulators, and communities can trust.

What won’t change? The fundamentals. Physics still governs reservoir flow. Safety and reliability remain non-negotiable. And the drive to explore, build, and solve problems will only become more important as machines take on repetitive tasks.

Finally, most of your profits from AI will not come from your famous cooking class essays, but from AI constantly analyzing your business using your own unique business model. Decision analysis or new business strategies can be stress tested against strip pricing and your current portfolio of properties, sharpening both strengths and exposing weaknesses.

In short, thinking machines won’t replace engineers. But they’ll amplify the ones who learn to harness them.