AI questions offend Hermès artistic director
The artistic director of Hermès, Pierre-Alexis Dumas, has said machines will never replace the artisan craftspeople who work at the leathergoods company.
In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, the newspaper said Mr Dumas, a sixth-generation member of the family that founded Hermès, “looked offended” when asked if the company was using artificial intelligence (AI).
“It’s all about the human touch,” the artistic director said. “Yes, you can programme a machine. But the machine does not have feelings. It does not have consciousness. It is not aware of what it is doing.”
He went on to say that even if, hypothetically, machines in the future could do everything humans can, he would not use them to replace the skilled workforce that Hermès employs. “Over my dead body,” he insisted. “You are talking to someone who works for a company that has more than 7,000 craftspeople.”
