The Human Edge in an AI World: Why Skilled HDD Crews Still Reign Supreme
Everywhere I go, contractors ask how artificial intelligence is changing horizontal directional drilling—and if it’ll ever replace drillers. My short answer: No. AI isn’t replacing people; it’s amplifying them.
Bore-planning software predicts steering challenges before the first pilot bore. Rig telemetry tracks torque and pullback pressure. Fluid software that auto-adjusts viscosity in real time.
But none of these tools mean much without the operator or locator’s experience in reading what the ground is telling them. AI can alert you to an issue—but only human drillers decide what to do about it.
At Melfred Borzall, progress happens when technology, learning, and people move together. HDD Training programs can provide a baseline understanding of real-world drilling behavior—how torque, mud flow, and reamer selection affect each job’s success. That knowledge makes AI more effective because crews can interpret alerts through the lens of real ground experience.
The smartest contractors treat an AI tool as a co-pilot, not a replacement. They use it to guide, not dictate, decisions. AI may flag an issue, but only experience decides the fix. The future of HDD belongs to teams who combine technology with instinct—people who can read the ground and the data. Here are three principles to make Humans + AI a smarter partnership:
Train for Digital + Field Literacy: AI tools are powerful—but only if the crew understands what they’re seeing. Train crews to grasp why the system issues an alert, and they will make quicker, more confident adjustments.
Use AI Data to Guide—Not Dictate—Tooling Decisions: Predictive maintenance may flag rising torque, but an experienced operator can distinguish between reduced efficiency due to the wrong pilot bit type and simply pushing through challenging ground conditions.
Automate the Routine, Humanize the Complex: AI is great at repetitive work—let it handle the data so your people can focus on real-time jobsite circumstances: adapting to unexpected conditions, communicating with clients, and making quick, safe decisions when conditions change.
AI can take over repetitive data tasks—logging bores, scheduling maintenance, tracking tickets—but humans still lead the complex, situational decisions that define HDD success and safety.
Artificial intelligence is improving how we plan and execute bores, but it’s not taking over. The future belongs to crews who combine instinct and insight—drillers who can read the ground and the data to drill smarter, safer, and faster.
