What My Indianapolis Star Letter Didn’t Have Space to Say About AI and the Trades

Last week, the Indianapolis Star published my letter to the editor on a simple truth that keeps getting overlooked:

AI does not run on code alone.
It runs on skilled trades.

You can read the full letter here: “AI runs on plumbers, electricians. Indiana doesn’t have enough.”

What I didn’t have space to say is this: the workforce problem doesn’t start at hiring. It starts with exposure.

Kids Don’t Lack Interest. They Lack Visibility.

Spend five minutes around elementary or middle school kids and you’ll see it.

They want to move.
They want to build.
They want to touch real things and see how they work.

A work truck pulls into a school parking lot and heads turn.
A drill comes out of a bag and kids lean forward.
Give them a tape measure, a tool belt, or a chance to wire something simple and you have their full attention.

This isn’t accidental. It’s human.

And yet, many kids go all the way through school without ever seeing the trades presented as something cool, skilled, or worth aspiring to.

The Trades Aren’t a Backup Plan. They’re a Front-Line Career.

What’s missing from most conversations about AI and economic growth is that the future is being built physically.

Data centers don’t power themselves.
Servers don’t cool themselves.
Infrastructure doesn’t maintain itself.

Those systems depend on people who know how to build, wire, fix, and maintain them. That work is skilled, technical, and increasingly critical.

If we want to lead in the AI economy, we need to treat the trades like the strategic asset they are.

Exposure Changes Everything

I saw this clearly at a recent elementary career day.

Same classroom. Same community.

One student had never touched a drill.
Another helps a parent on job sites.

That single difference shapes what a child believes is possible.

You can’t choose a path you’ve never seen.

Attracting Projects Is Only Half the Job

Indiana is doing a good job attracting major AI and infrastructure investments.

But recruiting projects without building the workforce pipeline to support them is like pouring a foundation and never framing the house.

If we want long-term growth, we have to start earlier:

• in schools

• in classrooms

• with hands-on exposure that shows kids how exciting and valuable this work really is

The future isn’t built by buzzwords.

It’s built by people who know how to do the work—and by kids who were shown early that this work matters.