The Careers AI Can’t Replace ft. Mike Rowe | Fortune Daily

Is learning a skilled trade now a safer financial bet than a four-year college degree? For nearly two decades, Dirty Jobs host Mike Rowe has warned that treating a college degree as the only path to success turned skilled trades into a "consolation prize." Today, that argument is more urgent than ever. As the AI boom reshapes white-collar work and tech, the AI revolution itself faces a massive bottleneck: a severe shortage of electricians, pipefitters, HVAC technicians, and lineworkers needed to build and power data centers and modern grids. In today's episode of Fortune Daily, Ellie Austin breaks down whether skilled trade careers are truly safe from automation, the shifting economics of college degrees, and why the physical backbone of the tech industry is in desperate need of labor. Plus, Fortune Senior Editor Cat Gioino joins the show to discuss Alaska's beloved annual Fat Bear Week contest and how it supports national parks. In this episode: The AI boom’s hidden bottleneck: physical infrastructure and skilled labor Mike Rowe’s crusade for trades and the true ROI of a college degree Are trade careers durable against future automation? Fat Bear Week: How a viral bracket raises big money for national parks Subscribe to Fortune Daily for your essential weekday breakdown of business, technology, and economic shifts. Subscribe to Fortune: https://fortune.com/subscribe/ Additional images courtesy of Getty Images 00:00 Mike Rowe 15:52 Fat Bear Week