Will AI Replace Climbers?
In the early 1970s, when I started my career in the trees, my father told me, “If you can climb a tree, you’ll always have a job.” After 50-some odd years climbing, I can still get up some trees and get the job done – and I still have a job. The way things are going these days, though, the role of the climber is uncertain.
As bucket trucks made their way into the tree care industry, climbers were marginalized, but not phased out completely. I realized bucket operators couldn’t do the job of trimming as well as climbers could. They were well suited for removals and some pruning, but not for the fine trimming of high-value shade trees. They couldn’t get inside the crown of a mature tree like climbers could without sacrificing the natural beauty of the tree. Nor could they get the operator out to the tips of branches to tend to the finer points of trimming, the details that separate a thorough job-well-done from those that are somewhat less than thorough.
But in today’s world, with the trend in our industry toward replacing humans whenever possible with machines, such as grapple-saw trucks and the like, and now with artificial intelligence (AI) looming on the horizon, the last bastion of tree climbers may be eliminated from our workplace. Climbers lost some ground when buckets came along, but at least the human element was involved. Such is not the case if AI is developed to the point that climbers are no longer required. A dilemma lingers in my mind.
Fine trimming is an art and can’t be boiled down to an exact science. No two trees are exactly alike. The choices of what to remove and what to leave are never quite the same. When the art of trimming has been mastered, feeling guides these choices rather than the rules dictated by books on tree trimming. The logic of tree trimming may be able to be infused into a robot, but I doubt feeling can be, and I hope it cannot. If it can, gone will be the exhilaration of the climb, the satisfaction of a job well done.
It may be some time until the engineers of artificial intelligence get around to developing a robot that is a match for human climbers. The experience, skill and nimbleness of a living climber will be hard to beat, but they may pull it off. Most likely, my climbing days will be over by then. Tree climbers may follow potters, weavers and wheelwrights, fading into the sunset, leaving tree climbing to the dedicated enthusiasts as a sport, like rock climbing.
As professional climbers of trees, our days may be numbered. Enjoy the climb while you can.
Michael Hoppe is owner/operator of Michael Hoppe Arborist, a two-person operation based in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.