ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Welcome to the new industrial revolution Artificial Intelligence is playing a key role in one of the biggest revolutions that industry has seen. Every so often, a development emerges that represents a true industrial revolution. In the 19th Century it was the dramatic advance of mechanisation and the harnessing of electricity, in the late 20th Century it was the rise of the computer, in the early years of the 21st Century it has been the appearance of The Cloud. Now, we have Industry 4.0, which encompasses the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT), the growth of automation and the
Advancing our future with AI
AI has been in existence for decades, but it is only now entering a crucial stage in its development and adoption, due in part to the proliferation of large, connected datasets and the computing power needed to train algorithms that can provide actionable information. In the coming years, billions of people will witness AIdriven disruption and new opportunities. With AI at the heart of the UK Industrial Strategy we are positioning ourselves to be a leader in the deployment of AI throughout the rest of the 21st Century.
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INSPIRE
Survey suggests that more needs to be done to overcome public concerns
development of Artificial Intelligence. Already referred to as ‘the fourth industrial revolution’, the impact of Industry 4.0 on manufacturing businesses of all kinds in Hertfordshire is going to be massive. It is already having a major effect. Industry 4.0 relates to the way technology talks to each other and, for industry, that means creating the ‘smart factory’ in which systems communicate in real time via the Internet, underpinned by AI technology. At Industry 4.0’s heart is a growing realisation that huge amounts of time and effort is being wasted because too many production and back-office systems are not connected. That disconnect means that skilled personnel ranging from manufacturing teams
to sales staff find themselves repeating the same tasks when, if managed properly, their IT could do it in a fraction of the time. For instance, it makes no sense if a machine is producing data that impacts on another piece of equipment but the information is not available to its operators without having to go through a complicated process to obtain it. How much better, supporters of Industry 4.0 argue, if the data from Machine One is automatically made available to Machine Two? The benefit for companies embracing Industry 4.0 is that more data integration results in better planning for production and logistics and makes them more cost-effective. In the smart factory, sensors can automate tasks, report performance levels, flag anomalies and generate alerts giving companies new insights into their business processes, allowing them to run predictive analytics to forecast problems before they occur. That is useful because, if you can predict the failure of a key piece of equipment well in advance of the breakdown, you can take action to prevent it. Avoiding a serious failure and resultant downtime saves money and prevents damage to reputation. Analysts also suggest that when more flexible access to information happens, it brings about up to 40% higher employee productivity.
As a growing part of many people’s lives and businesses, AI will continue to become more prevalent over the next decade or two. Given both the huge potential benefit but also risks, for example in terms of job depreciation or individual data privacy, it is, therefore, crucial that the public are aware of how and where artificial intelligence is being used to allow them to make informed decisions about how to manage the implications this will have for them personally. Maintaining public trust over the ethical and secure use of their data is of paramount importance to the successful, widespread proliferation of AI-enabled technologies and there is no better exemplar of this than systems which
interact with personal health data. The IET’s most recent conference on AI “This AI Life”, had this central to the discussion. Healthcare is an area which offers up a multitude of potential applications for AI, both in terms of clinical outcomes but also system efficiency given the widely-reported resource constraints suffered by healthcare systems worldwide. The IET is continuing to examine the use of AI in the workplace and it’s adoption by companies together with the impact on individuals. We are aiming to launch a report with our members later on this year. Ahmed Kotb, IET Digital Lead
Nikolas Kairinos, CEO and founder of Fountech, said: “People tend to fear what they don’t understand, and this research is an example of this. For decades, AI has been misrepresented in sci-fi movies and literary fiction, but we should not let this blinker our view of how this amazing technology can enhance the world around us.
The UK public is wary of the impact that Artificial Intelligence (AI) could have on jobs and their personal data but still feel it will be a force for good, new research has found. Fountech.ai, an AI think tank and development company, commissioned an independent survey of more than 2,000 UK adults. It found that two thirds (67%) of people are worried AI will result in jobs being lost to machines. It also showed the majority of Britons (58%) think AI tools that recommend products to customers – such as the software used by Amazon and Netflix – are ‘creepy’. A similar number (59%) have become more nervous about the way their personal data is collected and used since the rise of AI. A quarter (24%) of respondents even think AI could be responsible for the end of humankind. However, three fifths (62%) of people believe AI will do more good to the world around us than it will harm. Fountech.ai’s research highlighted an underlying lack of awareness when it comes to AI and its already widespread uses; 37% of UK adults said they do not fully understand what the term “artificial intelligence” means. Furthermore, only 30% claim to regularly use technologies that are powered by AI. This is despite the fact that popular tools such as Google’s search engine, Siri, most major email providers and Facebook – as well as the Amazon and Netflix platforms – all use AI. One in three (31%) respondents said they do not think AI will ever be able to truly replicate the cognitive ability of humans. Nevertheless, three quarters (74%) want to see the UK government do more to govern the way AI technologies are developed and used.
“AI can solve problems and achieve tasks that we previously considered impossible – it will undoubtedly open doors to countless opportunities so we can make the world a better place. Importantly, as this study shows, the technology must be harnessed and used in the right way – the ethical questions surrounding the development of AI will rightly remain until both governments and businesses show they are applying it in responsible, safe ways.”