Hypertech Magazine Issue No. SpInfote S02 22-23

ThisissueofHypertechE magazine features4articlesthatfocusonthe useofAIinemergingtechnologies, viz.:

Meta Medicine

AIChatbots

RoboticsProcessAutomation Self DrivingVehicles

Foreword

AmbientandpervasiveArtificialIntelligencehaspermeatedthearticlesinthisissueof Hypertech E-magazine. The convergence of AI with Virtual Reality and Augmented reality resulting in the Metaverse has shown opportunities in the field of healthcare andexploredinMeta Medicine.

The use of AI chatbots in many industries, viz. education, banking, healthcare, manufacturing, medicine, merged with digital twin technology has given rise to conversationalchatbotsanddomain specificexpertsystemchatbots.

Streamlining of business processes using Robotics Process Automation has also become pervasive in many industries resulting in cost-effective and cost-efficient businessprocesses

The evolution of self driving vehicles is expected to bring radical changes in the transportation industry once the nuanced ethical dilemma and legal liabilities are clarified,developed,anddeployed

Thearticlesexamineeachtechnologywithatechnologydescription,aSWOTanalysis, a cost benefit analysis, applications in various industries, ethical implications, and nation buildingimplications.

Gary A Grey, MBM, is a consultant for software developmentengagedincreatingoptimaldecision making systems and intelligent process support software for the global market. He is concurrently a faculty member of the Ateneo Graduate School of Business where he teaches Information Technology, Business Intelligence, E Marketing, Technopreneurship,andE Commerce IntheAteneo School of Medicine and Public Health, he teaches Health Informatics He took up undergraduate studiesatDeLaSalleUniversitywherehegraduated Magna Cum Laude major in Economics in 1972. He served in the banking community for the last 26 years with stints in Union Bank of the Philippines, BancomDevelopmentCorporation,andPCIBank

Gary A. Grey

H Y P E R T E C H M A G A Z I N E

Jennelyn Maniquiz ClassEditor

Editor’s Note

Technology today is evolving at a rapid pace, enabling faster change, causing an acceleration of the rate of change. Thus in this issue, with the help of all the authors from class SP Infote S02 we will provide substantive content about different emerging technologies. Happy reading!

Photo credits: Simplilearn

acebook'srecent rebrandingto“Meta” has made the idea of a Metaverse more well known, but the story doesn't begin there Neal Stephenson's 1992 book Snow Crash serves as the narrative's starting point. The novel suggested that people using digital avatars might be able to leave the actual world behind and enter the "Metaverse,"avirtualenvironment wheretheymightfullyexplore.

A metaverse is a fusion of different types of virtual places that exists as a virtual, digital 3D universe Users can access this virtual environment using their digital avatars to represent their virtualselves,andtheycanmove about different metaverse locations to shop, hang out, or meetupwithothersjustlikethey would in the real world The only exception is that consumers can take advantage of immersive experiences while sitting in their ownhomes.Inotherwords,inthe metaverse,thingsthathappenin secluded places in the physical worldwillnowhappenvirtually

WHATIS METAVERSE?

TECHNOLOGYDESCRIPTION

Metaversein Medicine

Duetoitssupposedlylimitlesspotentialandgoals,theMetaverseiscurrentlythetrend inthedigitalworld.TheMetaverseattractsalotofinvestorssinceitisattheforefrontof technologicalanddigitaladvancements.Itisasettingwherethephysicalanddigital worldscanlivesidebysideandhaveabigimpactonbasicaspectsofdailylife

It essentially consists of an infinite number of interconnected virtual communities whereindividualscansocialize,worktogether,andhavefunwhileutilizingsmartphone apps,augmentedrealitydevices,andothertechnology.Additionally,itwillcoverother facetsofonlinelifeincludingsocialnetworkingandshopping.

The Metaverse will grow into an unusually large scale, extremely open, and dynamically optimized system as application scenarios progress. Creators from diverseprofessionswillcollaboratetodevelopasystemthatcanhandlenumerous virtualrealityapplicationsituations.

Metaverse in healthcare is being practiced now. This was made evident by a BBC report from the beginning of August, which stated that a group of international surgeons had been practicing in virtual reality for months before successfully separatingtwoconjoined-headedtwinchildrenagedthree.

Theseledustofocusonthemetaverse appliedinthehealthcaresystemforour paper.Itwillbeanexcellenttoolforthe healthcaresectortoeducate,empower, andofferpatientsandproviderspleasant experiences.TheMetaverse'srolein thechangeofhealthcarecannotbe underestimatedsinceitintegratesAI,VR, AR,theInternetofMedicalDevices, intelligentclouds,androbotics.Withits uniqueheadgearandsci fiapplications, themetaverseisreadytotransformtheway patientsreceivemedicalcare

TheMetaversetrendhasgrowntremendouslyas we approach a new phase of the digital revolution,producinganimmersivevirtualreality and a collaborative place to synchronize user experiences. This only serves to highlight the importanceofaccessiblenetworkconnectivityin these dynamic times, when everything from human relationships to business transactions and data storage occurs on a decentralized network.

VIRTUAL VIRTUAL VIRTUAL TRENDS IN TECHNOLOGY

M E T A V E R S E

Augmentedand virtualrealityin videogames

VR and AR gaming are different from one another. Through the creation of wholly immersive virtual environments, virtual reality (VR) entirely replaces reality and transports the user somewhere. Contrarily, AR augmented reality by projecting information over what the user already sees. While AR gaming gives the consumer greater freedom, VR gaming is more immersive. Whereas head mounted displays are required for VR games but are not

necessary for AR games - which may be played without them. Virtual gaming relies heavily on 3D technology, AR and VR assemblies, and sound systems. These technologies have experienced exponential expansion as the Metaverse has grown, increasing their value and market importance. The market for AR and VR headsets surged by 60.8% in 2021, according to the International Data Corporation's (IDC) Quarterly AR/VR Headset Tracker, with the APAC region alone shipping 2.19 million units.

Photo credits: Augray experience redefine

METAVERSE IN MEDICINE TRENDS IN TECHNOLOGY

VirtualArt Galleries

In light of the increasing acceptance of NFTs, digital assets, and blockchain technology, the growth of digital art should not come as a surprise. With a market value estimated at US$2.4 billion, virtual art galleries are one of the Metaverse's most popular business trends. Art enthusiasts can experience a thrilling virtual environment, trade their favorite works, and view artists' and digital producers' NFT shows in a new form of an immersive venue known as a virtual art gallery.

Eventsinthe Metaverse Entertainment

No matter where in the world, the metaverse is enabling people to celebrate together. Zoom has supported a wide range of events, including weddings and cultural festivals. Telepresence is progressing to a new level, according to recent metaverse trends. 12 million rap lovers attended a recent performance in Fortnite by Travis Scott.

The virtual concert was such a success that it is now

recognized as a first in human history.The Swedish pop phenomenon ABBA recently said that they will advance this approach by developing a virtual environment using "ABBA tars." These digital performers will take the stage at a real London location. Of course, well-known performers like Twenty One Pilots, Ariana Grande, and Justin Bieber have all performed well in virtual environments.

Corporate SolutionsAre IncreasingTheir Metaverse Presence

The metaverse may be solely there for amusement and pleasure. The metaverse does include a significant amount of virtual world networking, gaming, and artistic production. However, the metaverse also has a strong representation of business interests and solutions. One of the most popular corporate uses of the metaverse is for virtual meetings. In comparison to something like Microsoft Mesh's bespoke avatars, zoom calls are basic. Similarly, the Breakroom provides a more convenient method for workers to

speak with one another remotely. Additionally, virtual expos are made simple with Metaverse for Corporate. This is particularly interesting because these metaverse tendencies suggest a more sensible approach to workplace design. Additionally, augmented reality can enhance real world settings with augmentation from the metaverse.

Metaverseinthe medicalfield

Surgeons from all around the world collaborated in virtual environments to plan and carry out the ground-breaking treatment with the aid of VR applications. Not just surgeons, though, are taking advantage of this current healthcare opportunity. Patients with phobias like acrophobia are currently being treated by doctors who put them in virtual environments to confront their concerns. Additionally, VR is being used by medical professionals to treat patients who have mental illnesses like OCD and social anxiety. The immersive gear is also being used to train future healthcare workers since computer generated worlds enable a complete 360 degree perspective of the human body. In addition to doctor education, digital experiences are facilitating the doctor patient relationship.

METAVERSE IN MEDICINE

SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS

Customer Oriented:

Companies have revolutionized the marketing, selling, and servicing within the metaverse. With the utilization of amplified and virtual reality technologies, businesses can offer more personal, customizable, and interactive user experiences to reach customers and patients.

Business Oriented:

The debut of blockchain gave a direct and positive impact on businesses. Blockchain has transformed data mining, traditional payments, and transfers into an entirely digital process

Augmented or virtual reality will establish deeply engaging work from home workspaces for employees or medical practitioners. Lastly, businesses can create effective marketing strategies through data gathering and information compilation. These features make the metaverse an ideal platform for businesses’ profitability and sustainability.

WEAKNESSES

Lack of Technology Infrastructure:

Currently, the metaverse is still in its limited capacities. The digital worlds are still in the beginning phases. Technologies have to create, upgrade, and develop fully pledged metaverse for years or decades. Accessibility is also a priority when technology needs to create a more in depth aspect of the metaverse. Affordability may also be an issue for smaller companies which may have less resources to invest and expand into the metaverse features

Lack of Experts in the Field:

Metaverse development will demand professionals with emerging technology skill sets. These include skills in the realm of augmented and virtual reality, blockchain, and advanced cryptography. Advancement in metaverse technologies will require civil and mechanical engineers. Only a few professionals fit the qualifications of metaverse builders and designers which may delay the public release of the metaverse.

METAVERSE IN MEDICINE

OPPORTUNITIES

Expanding Digital Footprint:

Businesses are able to tap customers in a new medium and provide an additional platform to market and sell products and services. In terms of user engagement, metaverse will compel businesses to amplify its virtual presence, unique experiences, and event tie-ins Further, purchases, payments, and transfers in the metaverse are secure, speedy, and translate into real world product ownership.

Increasing Revenue Models:

The metaverse will offer a variety of revenue models. Businesses can immensely sell products, services, and experiences in the metaverse. As metaverse technology advances, companies can expand new revenue models such as clothing for user avatars, NFTs, real estate, advertising space, immersive experiences, and educational courses.

THREATS

Cyberattacks:

As technology aims to create and further develop the metaverse, cyberattacks have become inevitable and more rampant as developers will have to plug holes in the system as they arise. With the implementation of cybersecurity rules and best practices in the beginning stages, cyberattacks will carry into the metaverse as the platform’s most prominent threat.

Crime:

Metaverse technology has yet to develop and announce any regulatory guidelines and officials to avoid inappropriate behavior and crime. The metaverse is a publicly accessible digital platform; specific central authorities should define the rules and set specific guidelines to find and hold criminals involved accountable.

Business/Industry/Education Application

Industry Application

Limitless and boundless are the terms which are often used interchangeably whenever. Metaverse is mentioned. Its popularity became more widely entertained during the pandemic of 2020 as online setup became the new normal. Nowadays, with the current online setup of businesses (ie Hybrid, Work From Home) they prioritize flexibility and the medical industry is no different in adapting to the new normal of operations and management.

Bringing the information in the AR/VR mode can open the doors to simultaneous learning, training and practice whenever and wherever. The emergence of these innovations can serve several touchpoints all at once in real time; this allows the medical industry to have the future within reach we have the pandemic to thank for as it accelerated the implementation of virtual reality.

Metaverse in the Medical Industry can pave the way for earlier cures, Preliminary diagnosis with stat findings, and close to reality case studies in simulation.

Currently, advanced artificial intelligence technology is incorporated into metaverse medical platforms which may address some challenges encountered such as struggles with issues of unequal distribution of medical resources, trouble following up, overloading of specialists, and more.

Powerful AI based metaverse medical platforms with industrial scale digital twins may be able to solve these problems. The range of diseases that are widespread in society has evolved over time Traditional medical practices and healthcare delivery paradigms are under pressure from a variety of issues. The concept of the metaverse may point healthcare in new directions The integration of the real world and the virtual world is taking place in tandem with the rise of intelligent terminals, the development of 5G, blockchain, and other infrastructures, and the maturation of virtual reality, augmented reality (AR/VR), and other virtualization technologies.

A new term evolved as the technology began to address the challenges and align the data to integrate all processes which encompass the medical field, Meta Medicine was born.

Its development is done in four (4) stages: Holographic Architecture, Holographic Modeling, the combination of the real with the virtual, and the connection between the virtual and the real Building a static geometric model of the complete virtual world, including medical facilities, equipment, and other objects, will be the initial step These items can be broken down into three primary categories: events, scenes, and people.

"Events" are dynamic data and information created during the interactions between people or between people and sceneries, as in a typical surgical scene where the indoor atmosphere and medical equipment make up the "scene" while patients and medical staff makes up the "people"

The dynamic meta medical procedure will be built to bring the virtual world as close to the real world as possible. One way in which technology will advance is by increasing its fidelity at the physical level, coarse and fine grained level, and interaction level. Digital avatars of patients and doctors will give real time and intuitive feedback on precise data and information with the aid of real time motion capture and multi sensor device information interaction.

The virtual medical environment will appear more lifelike because of digital technology's ongoing advancements in computer simulation technologies. The line separating the virtual and real worlds will be broken by creating a mixed reality (MR) environment. A doctor, for instance, can speak with a patient using an XR device in an outpatient setting Patient related data will be retrieved in real time and displayed as an overlaid reality through real time identification, tracking, and information engagement, creating a new relationship with the surrounding natural environment

The continued development of computer simulation technology, brain computer interfaces (BCI), artificial intelligence (AI), and other technologies will lead to the creation of numerous new medical procedures, types of medical equipment, and facilities. Real world modifications to medical procedures will follow advances in technology. In the age of meta medicine, medical treatments on the two planets will gradually create more intersections and eventually give rise to new concepts and techniques. The meta medical community will support and advance current medical procedures in the actual world Through the information space, we will be able to not only observe but even alter the physical world

VR will be able to give patients and clinicians an entirely immersive medical experience once the virtual medical environment is infinitely close to the real medical environment and reaches the level of holographic construction and simulation. New remedies for various psychiatric problems will emerge as a result of an immersive virtual world. According to studies, the VR environment might alter psychological issues like anxiety, sadness, cognition, and even social interactions.

Patients with neurodiverse conditions can learn social, behavioral, communication, and life skills in a virtual environment. The design of supports for the core behaviors linked to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that advance individuals toward ideal outcomes is made possible by advancements in virtual reality (VR) technology. There is also significant promise for medical education

Through the use of imaging technologies like CT Scan and MRI, doctors can gather objective data about their patients, turn that data into knowledge and intelligence through subjective consciousness, and then introduce new information into the real world in various ways Make information flow exclusively between individuals, as well as between individuals and objective entities. Through the Internet, the human and informational worlds are interconnected, and as the Internet has grown, traditional medicine has given way to digital medicine.

EDUCATION APPLICATION

Traditional medical schools lack the resources for the practice of surgery since operating on cadavers is considered to be too costly for hospitals and has an impact on tuition. However, students can learn through a simulated setting for the goal of immersive surgical training at a substantially cheaper cost through the use of virtual reality in medical training Additionally, dissecting a virtual subject rather than a real cadaver saves money and allows students to work independently for instruction. The virtual reality based cadaver training sessions can improve the technical proficiency, including accuracy and decision making abilities, of surgical trainees Utilizing virtual reality and augmented reality As a result of reality, medical training and education will alter as well as techniques and methods. Students are able to literally enter the body of a person, offering an extensive permitting the replication of real procedures and allowing a perspective. AR is additionally being used for students with hands on education, such as reenacting surgical procedures and patient interactions, to help medical students visualize and perform new procedures

As surgeons constantly seek out more effective ways to complete surgeries with a higher success rate, technology will be used in the metaverse for difficult surgical procedures as well. The data set obtained through the development of a patient's digital twin allows clinicians to predict a patient's recovery time, any prospective challenges, and the necessary treatments for these issues.

The use of virtual reality as a training and practice tool for surgical procedures is also relatively recent, despite the fact that robot assisted operations are already routine for carrying out complex procedures with accuracy and flexibility. Such a teaching approach was essential during the pandemic since medical colleges and nursing schools had to stop holding offline lessons, which was extremely upsetting for all students In fact, the education sector of the healthcare industry can overcome a lot of these issues thanks to the metaverse

Photo credits: Forbes India

Business Application

Doctors are ready to use technological improvements for better patient care despite privacy and security worries around the metaverse concept. This is due to the fact that Web 3.0, the technology that serves as the metaverse's foundation, is based on blockchain technology and will include decentralized applications that enable a decentralized crypto economy. A VR based metaverse will undoubtedly play a crucial role in transforming the healthcare business with additional technology breakthroughs. Given the growth of the Internet of Things, it would be fascinating to see additional advancements in the field of healthcare

Health data monetization will lead to new economic opportunities. The consumerization of healthcare will take place. Blockchain and data integration will allow data owners their data to make money. The capacity for self sovereign identity individuals to eventually monetize their health data and Data driven, consumer focused health care will transform the historical institutional models. Using technology effectively additionally improve customers' capacity to take preventative measures their personal well being, as well as to create better, more making wise decisions

The success of digital healthcare depends on interoperability. Token economies and blockchain technology will enable both the safe commercialization and sharing of data and intellectual value.

Photo credits: www.cio.com/article/220533/the new innovation model monetizing healthcare data html

Photo credits: mhealthintelligence com

A C T U A L

A P P L I C A T I O N

The Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID 19) pandemic has had a significant impact on healthcare systems all around the world as a result of exceptional lockdowns and forcible physical separation As a result, it has sped up the implementation of digital technologies including telemedicine, e commerce, quick contact tracking supply chain management for pharmaceuticals and vaccinations and mass population screening Data processing and storage are now possible because of cloud computing, which has improved healthcare's security efficacy and efficiency which is strongly evident during the COVID 19 pandemic. This has increased research and development in digital health and expanded the medical metaverse

The creator driven metaverse economy is a system that numerous users have collectively built Their creations enhance the metaverse by making the simulation of reality more accurate and the setting where medical treatments are performed fully interactive Based on this all encompassing benefit, it is sufficient to provide a more broad effect on meta medicine at a cheaper cost The metaverse will use the developing blockchain technology as the technical foundation for buying virtual products and services

Finally, technical standardization is the cornerstone for achieving the interoperability of multiple platforms in the metaverse media that need an uniform technological standard to be widely embraced However, how digital assets are unified and maintained is still important

Photo credits: www.uib.no/en/med/133730/10 facts about coronavirus

METAVERSE IN MEDICINE

The development of digital or precision medicine will be aided by the metaverse's rise, which will open up endless possibilities in the field of healthcare The presentation of intricate medical information and data will be intuitive In an immersive setting, high cost medical collaboration, experiments, teaching, and other activities will be remotely controlled by digital avatars In order to create, adapt, and exchange knowledge in the metaverse, patients and doctors will employ "digital avatars," which will allow them to eventually enter the realm of virtual real integration and linkage The medical industry is distinct from other industries and has its own set of ethics and regulations. How to understand the limits of meta medicine, safeguarding patients' privacy and personal information, and create suitable laws and regulations for management systems are still important questions that need to be answered. Another idea that came into view is the "virtual hospital", which will be crucial to healthcare in the future. It essentially consists of a virtual hospital setting that can be accessed through a headset, with initial treatments concentrating on counseling and physical therapy services..

Computer vision will be used in physical therapy, such as when cameras are used to assess a patient's rehabilitation progress and the range of motion in injured joints

It is obvious that the opportunities provided by the metaverse will have an impact on many facets of healthcare delivery There may be some hurdles to be addressed first, particularly regarding people’s attitudes to obtaining treatment online or remotely which may still be considered as a second best or backup choice by many There are concerns about access as well because VR headsets are expensive and, if necessary for participation, might be perceived as furthering the problem of unequal access to healthcare. But if the new generation of digital first healthcare providers can convincingly demonstrate that their innovation will result in lower costs and better patient outcomes, these are concerns that are likely to be resolved over time.

Photo credits: https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/06/30/the metaverse in 2040/

Photo credits: NeuRa Library

COST AND BENEFIT ANALYSIS

REVENUE ESTIMATE

Precedence Research's most recent report estimates that the compound annual growthrate (CAGR) in the healthcare market of the metaverse will be 29 89%

The highest CAGR is projected for the hardware due to the development of AR/VR headsets for a more realistic experience and more precise outcome. The acceptance of and improvements in surgical procedures, together with the usage of AR technologies in situations when patients require ongoing monitoring, are also contributing to the high market growth The XVision Spine by Augmedics, an AR surgical navigation pioneer that enables a surgeon to visualize a 3D spine anatomy, is an example of an AR application. It obtained FDA approval in December 2019. Another is the EyeDecide application, which simulates the effects of various illnesses, such as cataracts, on the patient's vision A high increase is also anticipated for medical and surgical training, as these can help both current and aspiring doctors learn more effectively. The virtual practice of difficult surgeries would also improve patient care.

COST ESTIMATE

It would be challenging to secure the required funding for a metaverse application because this technology is still in its early stages. The expense of putting different technologies into practice would be very significant. Understanding these technological elements that make up the Metaverse ecosystems is helpful in determining how much it will cost to build and deploy Depending on the features, functionality, and criteria needed, a different set of costs will apply Decentralized databases, highly qualified developers, hardware, infrastructures, etc. are all part of the development expense

METAVERSE IN MEDICINE

According to LeewayHertz, a top tier metaverse development company that works with startups and brands worldwide, it would cost between USD 15,000 and USD 20,000 per month to develop a fully decentralized metaverse platform The total cost will depend on the time, features, and requirements needed to build it

This cost includes infrastructure, highly qualified developers and database. Hospitals may invest in AR devices readily available in the market For instance, HoloLens 2 by Microsoft, a wireless holographic headset, where health practitioners can interact with remote specialists, access patient data, and study 3D Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) pictures totally hands free. Key benefits of using and investing in HoloLens 2 include increased productivity and reduced travel for specialists in their field, lower operating expenses, expanded and protected revenue, improved training effectiveness, and increased task efficiency for onsite and field personnel, among others

FINANCIAL ANALYSIS

Based on a study conducted by Forrester, a leading global market research company, there will be a 30% reduction in round checks, required time for training would be reduced by 30%, and yearly personal protective equipment (PPE) expenses would be reduced by 75%, saving $954 for each employee With HoloLens 2 and mixed reality, Forrester predicts a Return on Investment of 177%, and a 13 months payback period can be obtained by healthcare organizations. The cost of Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 headset in the market is $3,500. This can be used together with Dynamics 365 Remote Assist for a better experience which costs $65 per user per month or $780 per year The total cost of Investment is $4,280 per employee

Case Illustration:

ABC hospital generated $22 million in revenue in 2021, of which 40% is maintained as general and administrative expenses which include salaries of administrative employees, utilities, and supplies cost, in which PPE costs $2 5 million.

The hospital has the following staffing component: A total of 300 field staff earning $500 monthly, 900 task staff earning $450 monthly, and 60 specialized experts earning $1,500 monthly. A total of 600 staff are trained each year, in which each staff has an allocated 240 training hours at $15 per hour Additionally, all specialists have an allocated training of 150 hours at $90 per hour every year ABC plans to add 50 task staff to support the shortage in ward rounds Each new staff incurs the additional cost of $3,600 for orientation and initial training costs. The annual growth rate is at 15% while the annual increase in salary is 10% The business is also thinking about using HoloLens 2 after hearing positive reviews of the device A sensitivity analysis was conducted to determine whether they should acquire HoloLens 2 for approximately 480 employees composed of of all field staff, ⁄ of all the task staff, and all specialists, or proceed with hiring 60 task workers. The useful life of HoloLens 2 is estimated to be 5 years The following is the actual and estimated financial performance report for 2021 and 2022, respectively

METAVERSE IN MEDICINE

The following table is the result of the financial performance report for the year 2023 after the sensitivity analysis:

The result shows that the acquisition of HoloLens 2 would be a better choice in this scenario as the profit rate is at 25% compared to 18% when the hospital chooses to hire additional 60 workers Higher operating profit from acquiring HoloLens is brought by the lower salaries and training expenses as a result of not hiring additional task workers and the 30% reduction in staff training expenses. A much lower General and Administration Expense was incurred by the acquisition of HoloLens due to the decrease of PPE by 75%, although depreciation expense from the device and subscription expense was additionally incurred amounting to $710,400. The total Cost of Investment is $2,054,400 computed by the $4,280 cost of investment per employee multiplied by 480 employees. Return on investment (ROI) is 115% computed by total savings of $2,352,600 divided by the total cost of investment of $2,054,400, with a payback period of 1 year

DIRECT AND INDIRECT STRATEGIC BENEFITS

Beyond the realms of business and entertainment, the opportunity to put technology to good use exists in the metaverse. In fact, the healthcare sector is already utilizing the metaverse to the advantage of both patients and healthcare providers The essential training that the metaverse will provide doctors for digitally practicing complex surgery is one of the most intriguing potentials it offers. There is greater room for error because it wouldn't be a real life setting. This could make better precision of surgery outcomes and medical treatments A platform for medical metaverse simulation named NewBase just obtained Series A funding in the amount of 4 billion won ($3 19 million) Since the launch of NurseBase and MediBase, other medical education websites, including institutions and hospitals, have taken note of NewBase. While MediBase enables health and medical students to practice, apply, and learn medical skills, NurseBase allows nursing students to practice in virtual hospitals Additionally, Metaverse provides patients access to healthcare professionals who are not physically there. Many of the minor disorders that make up the majority of caseloads can be easily and rapidly diagnosed by doctors and nurses over the phone or via video chat without the need for physical tests For instance, a person can have an access to a preferred physician who is based abroad through a virtual office Virtual customer healthcare facilitates a simpler and less expensive patient and healthcare provider experience.

ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS

DATAPROTECTION

Metaverse can benefit our society in a variety of ways Technology may assist numerous businesses in exploring more commercial potential in terms of virtual events and entertainment, education and training employee collaboration at work healthcare and medical along with others Metaverse is helpful to commercial sectors but because of how it works, some of its advantages may have unethical repercussions

According to Fullton, considering that the Metaverse market is continuously expanding some projections predict that it will reach $800 billion in 2024 (a $300 billion increase from 2020 predictions) technology giants in several business industries including healthcare have begun to establish their presence in this new digital platform These developments pose difficulties and raise fresh concerns about how the existing healthcare and life sciences legal framework might function in the world of Metaverse (Fullton, 2022)

In the world of healthcare the primary factors that may harm the use of technology are data protection internet safety and medical device laws

ta lies beneath the f data including those tive" (by law), may be in the metaverse as nd it challenging to ical controls and measures in this erability issues are a health environment ability of two or more es health information

This information gathered from various sources is changeable based on the engagement between healthcare systems

s more and more people live their lives online, the likelihood of cyberattacks will rise This risk will be further increased by the enormous amount of data that is being saved, gathered, and combined with contactless payment for online transactions To handle these increased security threats, a new law will be needed, and it will also need to be updated to consider the metaverse's dynamic character Businesses need to adapt when these developments happen

LAWSGOVERNING MEDICALDEVICES

The Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") administers medical devices and most of the applications and technologies for the healthcare system in Metaverse may fall under this category For instance, smart glasses and other Virtual Reality types of headsets can illustrate a clinic where a doctor virtually assesses the avatar of a patient The FDA has been striving to increase its recommendations in this scope in response to the expansion of the metaverse and digital health altogether Business ethics is an integral part of the strategic management by the leaders By knowing the “right and wrong ” or “good and bad” in the given situation, it is relevant thathealthcare businesses are aware of the ethical implications of using Metaverse for making wise business decisions

NATION BUILDING

It is well recognized that technology has a lot to offer the medical sector. Technology's impact on healthcare systems and patients alike has the potentialtobequitepositive

MEDICAL TRAINING

By providing a full perspective of the human body and diseases, Virtual Reality is educating medical professionals and assisting doctors as they practice real world treatments online Augmented Reality is being utilized for actual education to practice patient and surgical connections and presenttostudentstheupdatedmedicalpractices

In addition, surgical robot training might take place in the metaverse, wherepossibilitiesarethatrobotsandAIwouldoperateonhumanbodies.

SURGICAL STRATEGY

Overall, the Metaverse has the potential to make our lives easier. Its broad variety of capabilities is advantageous to both patients and the medical community,whichmay result in a better nation In the upcoming years, numerous businesses are expected to migrate their operations to Metaverse. Therefore, this technology can provide greater opportunities for companies to expand their operations and productions

Teamwork and collaboration during surgery are enhanced by Virtual Reality When strategizing on a surgical plan, the team can put on connected headsets and engage with a Virtual Reality environment built using data from the scans of the patient. The goal of the procedure is to handle difficult surgical cases and increase safety in the operation process.

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS

It is being practiced by executing workout routines to improve patient provider communication With the help of visual instructors, Augmented Reality is being utilized to give recommended workouts to the patients by using virtual reality headsets Thereby, the patients can virtually visit relaxingvirtualplacesduringtheirworkout

RECOVERY AND PHYSICAL THERAPHY

Virtual Reality is being used by therapists to aid in stroke, Parkinson's illness, and injury recovery. Therapists can select software for VR based physicaltherapyandrehabilitationthattargetsthepatient'suniqueissues and helps them improve a specific set of skills. The patients will quickly receive feedback on how effectively they are performing their sessions. This may inspire patients to go beyond what they initially believe they are capableof

Photo credits: KanawatTH

Photo credits: elearning industry

REFERENCES:

Sun, M , Xie, L , Liu, Y , et al (2022) The Metaverse In Current Digital Medicine Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S258891412200017X#b0005

Marr, B. (2022). The Amazing Possibilities Of Healthcare In The Metaverse. Retrieved from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2022/02/23/the amazing possibilities-of healt hcare in the metaverse/?sh=2ecb2759e5c2

Khan, O. (2022). How Will The Metaverse Drastically Transform The Healthcare Industry? Retrieved from https://elearningindustry.com/how will the metaverse drastically transform the healthcar e-industry

Thomason, J (2021) MetaHealth How will the Metaverse Change Health Care? Retrieved from https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article file/2167692

Needle, D. (2022). The metaverse explained: Everything you need to know. Retrieved from: https://www techtarget com/whatis/feature/The-metaverse-explained-Everything-you-ne ed to know

Ravenscraft, E. (2022). What is the metaverse, Exactly?. Retrieved from: https://www.wired.com/story/what is the metaverse/ Mccallum, S. (2022). Conjoined twins separated with the help of virtual reality. Retrieved from: https://www bbc com/news/technology 62378452

Robson, K (2022) Is the healthcare industry spearheading the metaverse? Retrieved from: https://www.verdict.co.uk/is the healthcare industry spearheading the metaverse/ Precedence Research (2022) Metaverse in Healthcare Market Size to Hit USD 72 10 Bn by 2030. Retrieved from: https://www globenewswire com/en/news-release/2022/08/24/2503869/0/en/Metaverse i n Healthcare Market Size to Hit USD 72 10 Bn by 2030.html

Arti. (2022). Top 10 Metaverse trends to look out for in 2023 and beyond. Retrieved from: https://www analyticsinsight net/top 10 metaverse trends-to lookout for in 2023 and bey ond/

Takyar, A. (2022). Cost to Build the Metaverse. Retrieved from: https://www leewayhertz com/cost to build metaverse/

REFERENCES:

Forrester (2022) The Total Economic Impact of Mixed Reality Using Microsoft HoloLens 2. Retrieved from: https://tools.totaleconomicimpact.com/go/microsoft/HoloLens2/ Chang, M (2022) Medical Metaverse Platform Newbase draws ₩4 billion Series A Investment. Retrieved from: http://www koreabiomed com/news/articleView html?idxno=13809

Arti (2022) XRHealth Secures $10M in Funding to Expand Virtual Reality Healthcare Treatment in the Metaverse. Retrieved from: https://www.prnewswire.com/news releases/xrhealth secures-10m in funding to expand virtual reality healthcare treatment in the metaverse 301490788 html

Kaur, S (2022) Into the Metaverse: 5 Emerging Industry Trends in 2022 Retrieved from: https://hivelife.com/metaverse trends-2022/

Digital health in the metaverse: legal and regulatory challenges in the virtual world. (n.d. b). Retrieved November 2, 2022, from https://www.taylorwessing.com/en/insights-and events/insights/2022/05/digital health in the metaverse legal and regulatory challenges-in the virtual world

Digital Health in the Metaverse: Three Legal Considerations. (n d b) The National Law Review. Retrieved November 2, 2022, from https://www.natlawreview.com/article/digital health metaverse three legal considerations

FDA Laws and Regulations About The Metaverse. (2022, February 15). Cohen Healthcare Law Group | Healthcare Lawyers | FDA & FTC Law https://cohenhealthcarelaw.com/2022/03/fda laws-and regulations-about the metaverse/ Pratt, M. K. (2022, April 5). 10 examples of the metaverse for business and IT leaders. SearchCIO. https://www.techtarget.com/searchcio/feature/Examples-of the metaverse for businessand IT leaders

SWOT Analysis for Metaverse (2022, Feb. 14) https://quantilus.com

Virtual Reality in Medicine (2021, June 7) WebMD https://www.webmd.com/a to z guides/features/virtual reality medicine

StephanieJoyceD.AngelesisaProductionSeniorwithten yearsofexperienceinthemediaandbroadcastingindustry. ShehasdevelopedexpertiseintheareasofAdvertising, MediaMarketing,Television,andContentProduction throughouthercareer.Inthefieldofcommunications,shehas launchednumerousprojectsandgarneredrecognitionforher award winningcampaigns.

KristineHervyCastroisabusinessunitassociateforBeauty andPersonalcareunderCTCGroupPhilippinesforthree yearsnow.She’sbeenpartofnumerouslocalbeautyand personalcareprojectsthatareavailableinthemarket.She’s aregisteredpharmacistandwasaJuniorClinical PharmacistforBiobalanceWellnessInc.for2yearsbefore venturingintosalesandbusinessdevelopment

RaechenGeanneEustaquiohasbeenaHumanResource professionalformorethan10yearsnow.Sheiscurrentlyworking onaprojectasanSAPConsultant/ApplicationDevelopment TeamLeadwithAccenture,Inc.Shealreadyexperiencedall facetsofHRmodulesindifferentaspects,andnowsheis continuingtodiscovermoreaboutHumanCapitalManagement fromtheITperspective,learningwhilepracticingboththebusiness processesandsystems

EMERGING TECH. 2

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

A T B O T S

INTRODUCTION

Being readily available to customers’ queries for 24 hours a day would mean hiring human customer service agents for 24 hours which often entails high costs It is also inefficient since it is unpredictable when customers would send their inquiries. According to Billingsley (2020), it is crucial for companies to lessen customer response timesincethisincreasesthelikelihoodofthe customers’continuationtothesaleprocess. Therefore, to minimize response time, companies may utilize available technologiestoincreasecost efficiencyand effectiveness which includes artificial intelligence (AI) systems such as chatbots. The goal of Chatbot technology is to go beyondhumancapabilitiesbybeingableto reach more people at the same time with minimalhumaninterference(Adamopoulou & Moussiades, 2020). Chatbots are also referred to by a variety of names such as conversationalAIbot,AIassistant,intelligent virtual assistant, virtual customer assistant, conversational agents, and more (Chatbot trendsreport 2021 medium).

Today, many websites and services use chatbots to respond to customer queries and give initial solutions to their concerns. These are commonly seen on messenger applications where users are given a selection of preset frequently asked questions to get the conversation with the chatbots started. Other applications include virtual assistants on smartphones that are voice activated. Other applications of chatbots include industries from ecommerce, medicine, human resource, and manymore

There has been rapid development in chatbots in recent years, especially after 2016.However,expertshavebeenpondering thequestionraisedbyAlanTuringsincethe 1950s: “Can machines think?” Ever since then, the idea of chatbots began to spread and the first known chatbot, Eliza, was created in 1966. Its purpose is to act as a psychotherapist that rephrases the user’s words in a question form. Just like any first generation technology, its ability to converse with humans was not enough to serveitspurpose.Furtherimprovements emerged throughout the years and chatbot Alice was developed, which earned the reputation of being the “most human computer” (Adamopoulou & Moussiades, 2020) ChatbotAlicewasbasedonasimple pattern matching algorithm and its intelligence was based on Artificial Intelligence Markup Language (AIML). This developmentpavedthewayforthecreation of chatbots like SmarterChild which is used in messenger applications. Consequently, virtual personal assistants emerged in markets such as Apple Siri, Microsoft Cortana, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and many others (Adamopoulou & Moussiades,2020).

Technology Description

TECHNICAL ENVIRONMENT

Numerous tasks such as those involved in customer facing roles were previously done byhumans,but now, these are handled by a computerized program that replaces human responses with artificial intelligence that simulates the learning and processing of human minds (Gupta et al., 2020). This section discusses the essential concepts in chatbot development andthedifferenttypesofchatbots.

EssentialconceptsofChatbottechnology

According to Adamopoulou & Moussiades (2020) essential concepts related to chatbot technologyincludepatternmatching,artificialintelligencemarkuplanguage(AIML),latent semantic analysis (LSA), chatscript, rivescript, natural language processing (NLP), and naturallanguageunderstanding(NLU)

Pattern matching is based on stimulus response blocks where the sentence that the users input is the stimulus and the output from the chatbot is the response. This is most commonly used in menu/button based type chatbots so the responses are predictable and could be repetitive. Using this approach might cause users to experience looping conversations that lack the human touch However, this technique served as a building block of the artificial intelligence markup language (AIML) which is a tag based markup language Itrecognizescertainkeywordstodecideitscorrespondingresponses Tocovera wider range of words, latent semantic analysis (LSA) is used to associate similarities between words as vector representations. AIML and LSA are used together where AIML answers greetings and general questions while LSA is used to reply to unanswered questions(Adamopoulou&Moussiades,2020).

Chatscript is a rule based engine that serves as a natural language tool oradialoguemanager.Humanscreate the rules in program scripts called dialogueflowscriptingwhichisusedas a source code To build an effective chatscript, Singh (2021) emphasized that the first step is to determine the purposeandpersonalityofthechatbot. Then, the developer must build a dialogue tree by predicting the sequence of questions that customers might have and the chatbot’s responses. Recently, developers are looking into chatbot sentiment analysis wherein chatbots align their emotions with the users to add emotional appeal and human-like responses Further advancement of this concept is RiveScript. It is a simple open source scripting language for chatbots that is friendlyandeasytolearn.Itsinterfaceis available for Go, Java, JavaScript, Perl, or Python which makes it versatile and flexible to developers It is capable of matching complex sets of word patterns(RiveScript,2022).

Furthermore, natural language processing (NLP) is the process of training computers to be capable of understanding text and spoken words likehumans Itisacombinationofrulebasedmodeling,machinelearning,and deep learning models. It is also able to translate text from one language to another and respond to verbal commands These are used in voiceoperated GPS systems, virtual assistants, speech-to-text dictation software, and many more (IBM Cloud Education,2020).

Photo credits: callcentrehelper.com

T Y P E S O F

C H A T B O T S

According to Gupta et al., (2020), chatbots are used in many aspects of business transactions; however, it is mostly encountered in providing customer services since it can be made available for customers 24/7. It assists customers in providing more information about the business, doing simple transactions, and many more. The use of chatbots has extended beyond the business industry and these include humorist chatbot systems, Dorothy network management chatbots, and adaptive modular architecture based chatbots. The humorist chatbot system aims to make the user laugh by analyzing one’s sense of humor and responding accordingly using images and textual responses. Dorothy network management chatbot prevents unauthorized access through management protocols. It can help in detecting network issues that should be resolved immediately by alerting human operators. Lastly, the adaptive modular architecture based chatbot is a conversational agent using modular knowledge and proof of concept. This enables the chatbot to provide a more flexible response through a dialogue engine, dialogue analyzer, corpus callosum which activates only a particular part of the knowledge base at a time (Gupta et al , 2020)

Chatbots can be classified into three main types which are 1) menu/button based chatbots, 2) keyword recognition based chatbots, and 3) contextual chatbots (Gupta et al., 2020). The menu/button based chatbots utilize principles of decision trees to emerge with a response. The user will be given a series of questions where s/he will have to choose among the choices being provided by the chatbot either in the form of buttons or top down menus. Using this kind of chatbot benefits the chat user since they do not need to type down anything to specify their needs. After clicking a button, chatbots can trim down the options to determine what the user wants and lead people to their desired outcome (Zabój, 2019). On the other hand, this kind of chatbot might leave chat visitors frustrated due to its limiting input and that instead of going straight to the concern, the visitor will have to go through all the options. Therefore, it is recommended that creators of menu/button based chatbots keep the options short and easy to read which should be clear, brief, and informative. Other tips for creating a more effective chatbot of this type include using images and symbols to communicate with people who do not know the language, limiting choices to three to five options at a time to not give users difficulty in choosing, designing the responses of the chatbot aligned to one’s branding because it represents the company and builds relationships with customers, and many more (Zabój, 2019).

The second type is the keyword recognition based chatbots which is basically the extension of menu/button based chatbots. The difference is that chat users can give free input while the chatbot analyzes the specific keywords, then produces a response accordingly. This allows chat users to have more liberty in expressing themselves and their concerns, have a more natural conversation and help ask more advanced questions. However, it is significant to be aware that this type of chatbot might reach a point where it cannot respond if it does not recognize any keywords among the text being input by the chat user (Wouters, 2020). It would be helpful to avoid this situation if the chatbot creator combines the use of keyword recognition and menu/button based chatbots so that this gives chat users more options and guarantee to be led to his/her desired outcome

A further developed version of keyword recognition chatbots is the contextual chatbots It uses machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques to produce a more personalized response Some technologies used in this type of chatbot include voice recognition, speech to text conversion algorithms, and many more This chatbot grows over time as it accumulates experience with the chat user It stores records and patterns of previous transactions which help the chatbot suggest more accurate recommendations (Gupta et al , 2020) For example, in food delivery apps, the chatbot would remember what the user previously ordered and suggest options accordingly Since this type of chatbot is one of the most advanced in the market, it is more costly and tedious to develop (Wouters, 2020)

TRENDS IN TRENDS IN TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOGY

AI CHATBOTS

As users experience improved chatbot technology, the study of Southern (2019) claimed that there is 80% positive feedback on chatbots. Part of the enhancements includes more humanlike language by integrating better sentiment analysis which makes chatbots more capable of giving empathic responses. It also stores past interactions to provide a more personalized experience. Having these developments convinces more businesses to adapt chatbots to their operations (Chatbot trends report 2021medium).

In recent years, interest in chatbots had a rapid increase starting in 2016 based on the search results in Scopus for the words “chatbot” or “conversation agent” (see figure 1). It has become popular due to its ability to handle many queries at the same time which reduces customer service costs (Adamopoulou & Moussiades, 2020). According to the Chatbot trends report 2021, the spending on cognitive and AI systems of companies worldwide will triple from $24.0 billion in 2018 to $77.6 billion by the end of 2022. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2017 to 2022 is predicted to be 37.3%.

Figure 1. Search Result

Search results in Scopus by year for “chatbot” or “conversation agent” or “conversational interface” as keywords from 2000 to 2019. Source. Adamopoulou, E., & Moussiades, L. (2020). An overview of chatbot technology. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, 373–383. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-491864_31 Forecasted development in chatbot technology includes 75% to 90% of queries will be handled by chatbots, $0.70 cost savings per customer interaction which make it more affordable to more businesses (CNBC, 2017 as cited in Chatbot trends report 2021 –medium). The chatbot market is projected to increase from $946.55 million in 2017 to $5,638.64 million by 2023 with a CAGR of 34.64% (Business Wire, 2019 as cited in Chatbot trends report 2021 - medium). By 2025, annual global AI software revenue is predicted to increase from $9.5 billion in 2018 to $118.6 billion (Tratica as cited in Chatbot trends report 2021 – medium). Therefore, as chatbot technology becomes more mature and accessible, the more chatbot markets exponentially increase in value.

SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS

There are multiple advantages of using or adapting AI chatbots for a company and business First is its availability anytime to serve customers. The second is for data collection and analysis. And lastly is for the reduction of manpower. The first benefit is that, so long as there is an internet connection, it is always available. One of the greatest benefits of having the service chatbots is that users say that having a 24 hour service is the best benefit Chatbots can also boost organizations to save up to 30% on their customer support costs (Polito, n d ) Because there is no need for customer service agents, queueing is already eliminated when using chatbots, therefore waiting time is also not an issue. Although the issue of waiting for the next available operator for several minutes has not yet been resolved, chatbots are the most likely candidates to do so. By maintaining a 24/7 response system, the vendor and the client can communicate continuously (Dilmegani, 2022) Chatbots can instantly and simultaneously manage thousands of customer inquiries, and boost the average response time. (Patel, 2022).

The second advantage of having chatbots is data collection and report generation. Chatbots are a great tool for tracking purchasing trends and analyzing customer behaviors by monitoring customer data. Using this information, businesses may sell their products in new ways and reach a wider audience (Patel, 2022) This is indeed a faster way of gathering data as well as generating reports

The reduction of manpower is the third advantage. A company can cut expenses by using chatbots on a variety of levels, including salaries, training, and infrastructure (Patel, 2022). By gradually replacing customer service agents with chatbots, there can be a significant reduction in engagement times on all channels available such as calls, social media, and other messaging applications This is among the most significant benefits (Haughey, 2021)

WEAKNESSES

Despite the multiple strengths of using AI chatbots, there are still weaknesses that companies must be aware of. The first weakness is that it lacks human empathy. Second, the cost of adapting the chatbot is expensive. Lastly, decision making is limited Since chatbots do not have emotions that can relay to the customers, this can be a barrier to having a personal touch with customers Since empathy is reliant on our objective and subjective mental experiences, AI cannot give empathy attention to intent. AI can only give emotionally detached care through case representations and rules (AI & Society, 2021).

Chatbots can be really expensive to begin with The cost of adapting it can be costly and maintenance also contributes to significant costs, especially with several changes Also, a bigger business accounts for a more complex process With this, development of the system can be more expensive. Furthermore, chatbot vendors frequently include additional costs ranging from licensing fees to third party usage fees. Some of the costs related with purchasing a chatbot include license costs, installation costs, chatbot software platform costs, conversation design costs, chatbot development costs, custom integration costs, ongoing support and maintenance costs, and usage costs (Makadia, 2022) In terms of their level of knowledge and the way they connect with clients, chatbots require continual modification, maintenance, and enhancement.

Contrary to a human agent, a Chatbot might not always understand a query or have a restricted set of answers Chatbots are built with a list of replies that responds to the queries of the customers Not every concern of the customers is captured in this list which chatbots will fail to answer. Chatbots are not built to answer the most complex questions and requests. Kar and Haldar (2016) divide chatbots into two categories: artificial intelligence based chatbots and rules based chatbots. Rules based chatbots are less effective than AI based chatbots in terms of capabilities. They are only as smart as their programming allows them to be

OPPORTUNITIES

Companies have multiple opportunities for using chatbots. It can assist more customers, maximize profit, and reduce cost for manpower. Since clients do not have to wait in line with chatbots attending to their concerns, this will improve customer experience and will be able to accommodate more customers for their concerns 71% of customers believe that timely service team response can greatly improve their entire experience (Patel 2021). Businesses can not only engage with their consumers more A.I Chatbots effectively, but chatbot integration is simply flexible to handle high volume demands (Csutoras, 2022). Aside from giving a quick response to customers because of the simultaneous answering of queries, it also maintains consistent answers Can manage multiple interactions at the same time While a person can only handle one customer per transaction, chatbots can handle multiple conversations while maintaining quality (Lawrowski, 2022). With this, efficiency and customer satisfaction are improved.

According to top management, chatbots boost revenue by 67% on average. This is critical information for every company's revenue Another interesting figure is that 69% of consumers choose chatbots as a customer service tool ("Sales chatbots: How to grow revenue using conversational AI," n d ) Since we are in a digital age, maximizing the use of technology is a good way to further boost a product or service. According to Mckinsey’s study, 75% of consumers who use digital channels for the first time will still use them when things return to "normal." As a result, businesses around the world have begun to install sales bots in order to increase revenue (Shanbhag, 2022) Chatbots also have the capability to collect data that can be turned into useful information for the business They aid in the collecting of information and the offering of solutions, leading to a simple experience. Chatbots may organize, store, and categorize customers for future marketing campaigns. This could be quite valuable in establishing more specific target marketing (Csutoras, 2022). With more reach, companies can potentially maximize profit. The collection of data to target customers for sales is not the only use It can also help solve issues that can be addressed with the data collected You can discover more about your clients by using a chatbot. This information may help you identify and resolve common problems (Barker, 2020).

Another opportunity is that chatbots reduce customer service costs. Chatbots, according to Chatbots Magazine, can save customer service costs by 30% (Csutoras, 2022) This will allow the business to save money and increase productivity Chatbots can help you save money by automating monotonous tasks (Barker, 2020) With all of the improved efficiency and productivity, businesses can save money, labor, and time by reducing operational costs (Pazos, 2018).

THREATS

Although there are great opportunities for using chatbots, there are still some threats that must be taken into account with the use of AI chatbots The first threat is security issues Next is the likeability of the chatbot interface Lastly is the language barrier in the chatbot interface. Data privacy is definitely an important element for everyone who is using the internet. It is very alarming to find out that someone is getting your information from the internet without your consent. Recently, there has been a public outpouring of concern over data privacy and online security To avoid this, install necessary security measures and tell your customers to only provide critical information (Barker, 2020) Businesses should address issues like this in their chatbots, for the safety of their customers. Conversational AI programs must be built with security in mind, especially when doing sensitive individual data analytics. This guarantees that protection is taken into account and that any personal information is kept private or censored depending on the channel utilized (Madhab, 2021)

According to a study conducted by LivePerson, 60% of the respondents answered that humans would better understand their concerns than a chatbot (Beaver, 2017). This is one reason why businesses who adopt chatbots must make their interface pleasing for the users so that they could shift to this platform for their concerns Most individuals believe that a chatbot cannot replace human interaction While this is partially correct, you should aim to make your chatbot more appealing (Barker, 2020).

One factor to consider when developing the interface of the chatbot is knowing the language of the target market. Customers must know effectively the language in the interface to avoid miscommunication and confusion. Since English is only spoken by a small percentage of the world's population, conversing in a language other than English is difficult As a result, conversing with a voice assistant in your mother tongue is critical to effectively winning over new customers and building trust. Languages from different regions, as well as cultural differences, must be taken into account (Madhab, 2021).

BUSINESS/INDUSTRY/EDUCATION

Chatbots are now widely used in different industries and applications. The functions are widelyprogrammableandcanbecustomizeddependingonthebusinessneeds.Itisevident that companies are following this emerging technology trend to improve their internal and externalprocessesincludingcustomerhandling

A.E-CommerceIndustry

The emerging trend in e commerce is through online platforms such as Lazada, Shopee, and Zalora, to name a few local companies in this industry. Chatbots may help in the customer handling process from various steps such as product inquiry, tracking orders, cancellations, checkout, payments, returns, and refunds. This technology can also assist in guiding customers on their purchases when properly configured. The e commerce industry has beenbooming,andtosupportthenumberof growing customers, chatbots are widely used as an immediate response to ensure customersarebeinghandledeffectively

B.HealthcareIndustry

When it comes to providing services within theorganization,thehumanresourceshould not be taken for granted because it plays such an important part in the overall success of thecompany. Chatbots can serve different functions, such as entertaining applicants while in the hiring process, providing interactive exams during learning and development, and status request concerns regarding benefit applications or reimbursements. Overall, the application in this industry can further boost employee motivationandengagement

Photo credits: Hubspot Blog

Photo credits: Corporate Finance Institute

BUSINESS/INDUSTRY/EDUCATION

C.TravelandTourism

Customers availing services in this specific industrywouldpreferaworryandstress free vacation and travel Chatbots would be a huge boost to achieving this goal specific to customer relations and satisfaction. The airlineindustrycanutilizechatbotstoprovide flightupdatesandgathercustomerfeedback. The hotel and tourism industry can further entertainquestionsfromguestsregardingthe facilities and services while also accommodating queries regarding bookings, room availability, and upgrades Most importantly, the chatbot system can serve as a customer database that can be immediately used when promotions and otheradvertisementsareannounced

D.BankingIndustry

The financial sector is the most data driven industryandstandstobenefitimmensely from the implementation of chatbot technology. Through this system, banks can makedata driven decisions to aid sales, marketing, product launches, and banking trends. The goal is to increase customer loyalty to further improve customer retention. Chatbots can also aid in conversational transactions to help aid in call center transactions and call traffic. Most importantly it can help customers to have more secure transactions when integrated with different authenticationandauthorizationplatforms.

Photo credits: The global treasurer

Cost and Benefit Analysis

A. TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP (TCO)

– CAPITAL INVESTMENT, HIDDEN COSTS

According to new research from Gartner, by 2027, chatbots will be the primary client service channel for about 25 percent of organizations. In line with this, let us analyze the impact of this technology in terms of its financial benefits versus the traditional manpower resource that chatbots can take over and the total cost of ownership considering licenses, hardware, maintenance, and other operational costs. Logic dictates that in addition to paying for the development of the chatbot, one should also take into consideration the cost of actually running the chatbot itself. Let's delve a little deeper into the total cost of AI chatbot ownership.

Gartner states that about 70% of all use cases in AI are related to customer service and call centers. In the Philippines, the median annual salary of a call center agent is PHP 324,000. The benefits and other operating expenses are not yet considered in the computation such as HMO, allowances, bonuses, and tools such as workstations and other equipment to support their function The estimated cost of a Robotic Process Automation or RPA could range from PHP 700,000 to PHP 2,100,000 This is a confidential detailed breakdown of costs based on a distribution utility company in the Philippines

Simple RPA which involves a process flow with three to six possible scenarios and a simple interface will have an estimated cost of PHP 600,000 and an annual license cost of PHP 70,000 Complex RPA which involves a process flow with more than six possible scenarios with exception handling will have an estimated cost of PHP 2,000,000 with an annual license cost of PHP 70,000 The initial cost to set up the chatbot system might be expensive but the annual license fees and maintenance costs could be lower than an annual salary and cost of a regular employee working as a customer service representative

Licenses for the Tools Costs. There is a selection of tools that can be used, and some can speed up the process of developing a chatbot and putting the corresponding AI into action Smooch, DialogFlow, IBM Watson, Amazon Lex, Chatfuel, and a great many more are some examples of such platforms This payment may take the form of a recurring subscription fee or a cost for each individual message

Servers and Environments

Cost. It is expected that Chatbot will be running somewhere It is necessary for it to have a back end component that needs to be hosted somewhere; otherwise, the entire bot needs to have hosting either in the cloud or on premise On premise servers refer to installations of hardware and software locally while the cloud is being hosted on the vendor’s server and accessed via the web browser

For cloud installations, it is recommended to begin with the simplest possible configuration of the environment, then gradually increase its level of utilization as the bot's popularity grows TCO calculations can be more challenging for on premise installations; however, in general, the cost of the hardware, maintenance, and server side software are taken into consideration (operational system, application servers, etc)

Maintenance Costs. Maintaining the chatbot application including the servers whether on premise or cloud is an additional cost which includes the following: developers and bug fixes, optimization which includes support and tuning of conversation, and lastly regular maintenance check on hardware and 24/7 standby support

To function properly, the bot application requires support from its developers This includes routine, commonplace, and typical bug fixes in addition to the budgeted amount of time for the enhancement of Chabot As a general rule, the customer and the team of chatbot developers have a Service Level Agreement (SLA), in which the response time and the limit of monthly reserved hours are agreed upon by all parties involved

It is also rare for a chatbot's initial conversation to be flawless right off the bat From the standpoint of the user experience, it calls for constant fine tuning and training to be performed Within the first four months after the chatbot is published, approximately 30 percent of the total costs associated with the development of the chatbot should be allocated to this specific item Optimization of the chatbot is necessary to ensure the efficiency of the system and improve user experience

Hardware problems and downtime are also expected aside from bug and software issues, it should be considered in the overall cost of maintaining the system. A 24/7 support should be available to keep the system running if there are problems that will be encountered specially on the hardware.

CostandBenefitAnalysis

AICHATBOTS

B. DIRECT AND INDIRECT STRATEGIC BENEFITS

The advantages of using chatbots are not restricted to the fact that they are available around the clock

Below are the strategic benefits of using AI chatbots and the most exhaustive list possible of its advantages to the company and clients as well (Delmegani, 2022)

Benefits to Companies:

are willing to pay an additional 13 percent to 18 percent for a better customer experience, businesses that offer a better customer experience could see an increase in their revenue. (commbox, 2022).

The use of chatbots in business has resulted in an increase in revenue for those companies That is due to a few different factors:

Faster Internal Processes

Chatbots have the potential to significantly enhance both the company's internal communication and its processes

It might be possible to use chatbots in the process of onboarding new employees, for instance, so that the new employee can ask the chatbot a question and receive an immediate response, rather than having to contact various departments

Savings on Cost. According to a study published, bots help reduce company customer service expenses by up to 30% (Chatbots Magazine, 2017) It reduces operating expenses related to the number of phone calls and the duration of those calls For instance, bots can execute an initial screening, which decreases the average service time

Rolling out increasingly capable bots that are able to handle questions that are getting more and more complicated is one way for businesses to manage the growing demand for expanding their customer service departments The execution of chatbots will result in the incurrence of a particular quantity of initial investment costs However, when weighed against the salary of a customer service representative, the cost of training, and other associated expenses, this cost may, in the long run, be lower Chatbots have the potential to save businesses a significant amount of money, making them an appealing addition to any business Additionally, and with the exception of the outlay required for the chatbot's initial implementation, ongoing security maintenance, ongoing performance updates, and ongoing bug fixes, chatbots typically do not incur any additional costs

Increased Sales On average, the use of chatbots results in a 67% increase in sales A fundamental reality for the financial health of any company Another essential aspect to consider is the fact that chatbots are the preferred method of customer service by 69 percent of users. In light of these factors, utilizing chatbots to provide a better experience for customers could be a viable strategy for increasing sales. In light of the fact that 86 percent of customers

Personalized recommendations. Bots, which can provide a platform without any friction, can provide users with algorithm driven, personalized commendations of a company's new products and services These recommendations can be presented to users through the use of a platform Because of this, the utilization of bots is gaining more popularity these days 24/7 availability. The availability of bots around the clock, seven days a week, along with their lightning fast response times, can also help increase sales Customers dislike being kept waiting, and if they are kept "on hold" for an excessively long period of time, it is possible that they will lose interest in making the purchase The instantaneous response time offered by chatbots ensures that the customer is constantly engaged and that they are able to interact with the service provider throughout the customer journey

Customer interaction The use of bots opens up yet another communication line with clients Customers can be engaged in a greater manner by using bots to receive timely recommendations and offers Real time customer communication, also known as conversational commerce, is made possible by chatbots This type of communication assists customers in locating the information they seek and evaluating various suggestions

Deeper Understanding of Customers Customers may only occasionally have the opportunity to communicate directly with your company Chatbots provide businesses with detailed and actionable records of the greatest pain points that their customers experience, which in turn helps the business improve its products and services It's possible that the amount of information provided by the customer will directly affect their likelihood of making a purchase And chatbots can help improve the rate at which customer data is collected Chatbots are the ideal tools for businesses to use in order to better understand the expectations of their customers In consideration of the information gleaned from the conversation between the chatbot and the individual user, it is possible to formulate goals that are unique to each individual user. The organization is now able to make use of the feedback provided by the chatbots in order to improve on the areas in which it is deficient.

BENEFITSTOCUSTOMERS

Available 24/7.

Maintaining a response system that is available around the clock ensures that the seller and the customer are in constant communication This advantage is, of course, directly related to the level of success achieved by the bots. Even if they are available around the clock, bots that are unable to answer even the most basic questions posed by customers do not contribute anything of value At this point, the most pressing concern is how well chatbots can comprehend and address the issues that are being raised by customers Finally, emphasizing that bots are available around the clock can generate negative feedback in the event that they become unavailable because of routine maintenance or a security breach.

Scalability.

An operator is only able to focus on one client at a time and provide a response to one question at a time. On the other hand, a chatbot can provide answers to thousands of questions all at once The scalability of chatbots enables them to respond to a large number of inquiries with a minimum of effort, which is made possible by the lightning fast speed of the cloud, the internet, and sophisticated software mechanisms

Consistency in Response.

When speaking to different customer service representatives of the same company or organization, you might receive answers that are inconsistent or inconsistently different from one another That could be for a variety of reasons It is possible that the agent the customer speaks to is new to their job and may not have had the most beneficial onboarding session possible It is also possible that they are having a difficult day at work and are unable to give the customer their full attention; as a result, they provide a response that is different from the one the customer was anticipating receiving

Chatbots have the advantage of operating on pre determined frameworks and deriving their responses from a single source of truth, which in this case is the command catalog By doing so, the likelihood of inconsistent answers and the fostering of confusion is reduced to a minimum

Recorded Data or Responses.

The vast majority of chatbots have the capability to record the conversation and provide the customer with the transcript of the chat The customer can then use the transcript for whatever purpose they deem appropriate. In addition, the conversation may be saved for future reference, and the user may be issued a support ticket in connection with it. Therefore, in the event that they were already transferred to a live CSR through the support ticket, the customer representative would immediately pull out the customer's chat history as soon as they logged in to their account

Multilingual Support.

The fact that chatbots can be programmed to carry on conversations in a variety of languages is one of the many benefits associated with using these programs. This is especially helpful for multinational corporations that operate in a variety of markets The ability of chatbots to converse in multiple languages can be demonstrated by the fact that they can, for instance, inquire of the user at the outset of a conversation about the language that they find most comfortable communicating in Alternatively, the chatbot would automatically switch to the language of the region from which the user is accessing the business website This would be determined by the location of the user on the globe

BENEFITSTOCUSTOMERS

Endless Patience.

Bots never lose their temper, in contrast to both human customer service representatives and human customers During a conversation, one of the human related failures that can occur is impatience on both the part of the representative and the customer Chatbots have the ability to demonstrate patience which is impossible for humans to do. At this point, a problem involving human sourced customer service can be resolved in a direct manner

Convenient for introverts.

Not everyone enjoys having constant interactions with other people Users who are more reserved can use chatbots to get their problems solved and questions answered without having to engage in conversation with a human customer service representative

Programmability.

Chatbots are able to be programmed to carry out a wide variety of functions as a result of the fact that they operate based on predetermined codes Chatbots can perform a wide variety of tasks, including arranging meetings, providing advanced search functionality, providing answers to specific questions, and more. Programmability is synonymous with multi functionality as long as the command catalog of the system can be updated by a team of dedicated programmers.

Personalization.

Chatbots are able to store and use the history of your interactions with them because of their conversational AI capabilities, which allow them to provide a more personalized experience For example, those working in customer service should be able to recall both the customer's name and the ticket number associated with their order. This suggests that the chatbots will be able to instantly obtain the background information of the user in order to resolve the user's problems as quickly as possible.

A I C H A T B O T S

FINANCIAL ANALYSIS

As seen in Table 1, making an investment in an AI Chatbot will be beneficial to the company in the coming years both in terms of revenues and costs Using AI Chatbot would immediately result in a financial benefit of P206,000 00 This benefit would be realized in the first year of the company's use of AI chatbots.

However, it is necessary to consider potential overlaps in the measures to take cost savings and revenue gains into account A common example of one of these errors is the presumption that the number of agents will be reduced, followed by the application of the savings from reduced agent turnover to the original number of agents. (Mercier, 2022)

Aside from analyzing the company's finances, the most effective way to cut costs is through natural attrition, which involves not hiring new agents as the company expands and not replacing agents who voluntarily step down from their positions If the bot is able to answer simple repetitive questions, this frees up more time for the agents to provide superior service to customers who have more complex questions and require more attention, ultimately leading to an increase in overall worker productivity.

Table 1. Financial Benefits of AI Chatbots

Ethical Implications

It is necessary to take into consideration the effects of disseminating information to the general public through the use of a bot, which must necessarily be restricted in the variety of responses it can provide These responses are also pre programmed by individuals who have their own predispositions and tendencies, which could lead to additional concerns regarding impartiality, and control, if the call and response databases are not carefully monitored (Luzhanskiy, 2019)

The use of chatbots is a fascinating new development in the fields of machine learning, user engagement, and content distribution. However, just like with any other newly developed technology, there are ethical challenges and implications that need to be taken into consideration before the aforementioned technology can be implemented in a way that is both responsible and has an impact.

It is also essential to think about where the bot gets the information that it uses, as well as how it verifies that the sources it uses are free of any bias or corruption that might have been introduced by the bot itself. When it comes to the utilization of bots, one of the other areas of concern is privacy. For the purpose of preventing the loss of confidential company information or

personal user information, it is essential to keep the security of the bot's input and output databases in good working order at all times Users need to know that the conversations they have with your bots will be kept private and secure including the questions they ask and the responses they receive

The owners and operators of chatbots also need to be concerned about gender and identity in addition to their other concerns Should the bot have a male or female gender, or should it be gender neutral or even completely genderless? What about the race that your bot is in? Should the bot have a discernible racial or ethnic background as well as a nationality? Is it probable to build a chatbot that is devoid of any national, ethnic, or racial identity without inadvertently reinforcing the dominant narratives about race and ethnicity that are already at play in the country or region where your users live? If so, how?

Before implementing chatbots into their day to day operations and user interactions, businesses need to answer these important questions before moving forward.

Environmental Awareness

Chatbots can help raise environmental awareness as they can reach and disseminate information to a wide audience through

social media and other platforms. Chatbots also play a critical role in supporting and facilitating community building. BBC News collaborated with Facebook Messenger and launched a chatbot to help users learn about climate change and promote environmental awareness. Subscribers get an alert inviting users to explore topics such as rising temperatures and global warming.

Social Activisim

Chatbots can also promote social activism to improve communities. UNICEF uncovered sexual abuse in schools in Liberia with the help of chatbots that surveyed a wide audience in Liberia. With the use of chatbots, the survey resulted that 86% of participants said teachers exchanged sexual activities for grades. The results were brought to Liberia’s Minister of Education who announced plans to address the taboo issue. Chatbots were used as a protection tool that enabled young children to report issues in the community. The actions and changes brought about by chatbots are just a few samples of how chatbots hold the power that can impact social change and environmental change to help society.

NATION BUILDING IMPLICATIONS

Combats Misinformation

At the height of the pandemic, misinformation was rampant, with people getting the wrong ideas on how to handle the virus. Chatbots can reach a wide audience and help control the spread of misinformation. The World Health Organization teamed up with Facebook and Rakuten Viber and launched chatbots that provided notifications with news and information regarding COVID-19 how to protect themselves and understand the facts related to the disease.

Reduces Carbon Footprints

Chatbots can also improve a company’s carbon footprint. Chatbots can store information digitally; therefore, it also reduces the need for consumables like paper. Chatbots help reduce the hours needed to handle inquiries from employees, thus lowering the power consumption needed for desktops, airconditioning, and other office expenses. With chatbots, companies can reduce hiring and training costs for potential customer service agents. Chatbots are able to provide efficient customer service and answer basic issues and queries. Companies can reduce both carbon footprint and, at the same time, increase work efficiency.

Raising Funds and Humanitarian Response

Half the population in Ethiopia and thousands of children suffer due to a lack of access to clean drinking water. Charity: Water partnered with Facebook and developed a chatbot that raises funds for the water crisis in Ethiopia. The chatbot “Walk with Yeshi” enabled people to donate funds directly from Facebook Messenger.

Chatbots can also help gather and utilize data more effectively for humanitarian response in times of crisis. Emergency Telecommunications Cluster also launched a mobile chatbot that lets people who are fleeing the crisis know information for all support they need. This chatbot is currently used in the humanitarian response to the Ukraine crisis.

O N & R E C O M M E N D A T I O N S

In today's rapidly evolving world, customers can find technical assistance for virtually every aspect of their lives. The internet provides access to a variety of sources of information and has significantly altered how people communicate. Introducing new technologies has made people’s lives easier while simultaneously expanding options. Customers can quickly get the information they need through the use of online networking platforms or websites that have AI chatbots readily available any time of the day.

From the group's point of view, artificial intelligence chatbots have a significant impact on the business world. The various kinds of building platforms that were mentioned above are all easily accessible. It also has the potential to reach a large audience and improve the way that businesses serve their customers which results in a radical change in customers’ overall experience.

It is recommended that business owners familiarize themselves with the use of emerging technologies such as AI chatbots since these developments increase competition. If companies do not keep up with technological advancements, they might miss out on the conveniences they can offer to customers which could result in losing sales to others, decrease customer loyalty, and failure in attracting new customers. In addition, people should also do their research on how integrating AI chatbots into their businesses can be an asset because not all businesses can benefit from it in the same way.

REFERENCES:

Adamopoulou, E., & Moussiades, L. (2020). An overview of chatbot technology. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, 373 383 https://doi org/10 1007/978 3 030 49186 4 _ 31

Advantages and disadvantages of chatbots: Everything you need to know. (2021, July 18). Aivo Conversational AI | Automate outstanding customer experiences. https://www aivo co/blog/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-chatbots

aiforgoodstg2 (2021, September 2) The Future of Humanitarian Response: Uavs, Chatbots, and smart agriculture powered by ai. AI for Good. Retrieved November 1, 2022, from https://aiforgood.itu.int/the future of humanitarian response uavs-chatbots-and smart agriculture powered by ai/ AI & Society (2021, May 26) In principle obstacles for empathic AI: Why we can’t replace human empathy in healthcare. SpringerLink. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00146 021 01230 z#:~:text=AI%20cannot%20provide%20consciously%20empathic,in%20a%20situation%20of%2 0care

Alaaeldin, R., Asfoura, E., Kassem, G., & Abdel Haq, M. S. (2021). Developing chatbot system to support decision making based on Big Data analytics Journal of Management Information and Decision Sciences, 24(2), 1 15 Amditis, J (2017, March 22) NJ Mobile News Lab Retrieved from https://medium.com/mobilenewslab/ Barker, S (2020, March 9) AI chatbot opportunities and challenges: All you need to know The Web Writer Spotlight. https://webwriterspotlight.com/ai chatbot opportunities-and challenges

BBC. (2019, April 17). Confused about climate change? talk to our chat bot. BBC News. Retrieved October 31, 2022, from https://www bbc com/news/science environment 47897342

Beaver, L. (2017, May 11). Chatbots are gaining traction. Business Insider. https://www businessinsider com/chatbots are gaining traction 2017 5?IR=T

Billingsley, K (2020, October 18) Importance of responding to customers in a timely manner Alibaba.com Seller Central. Retrieved October 31, 2022, from https://seller alibaba com/businessblogs/px856039 importance of responding to customersin a timely manner

Call center agent salary in the Philippines. (2022) Retrieved from Talent com: https://ph.talent.com/salary?job=Call+Center+Agent

REFERENCES:

Chatbots Magazine. (2017, April 21). Retrieved from Maruti Techlabs: https://chatbotsmagazine com/how with the help of chatbots customer service costscould be reduced up to 30 b9266a369945

Chatbot trends report 2021 medium. (n.d.). Retrieved October 31, 2022, from https://chatbotsjournal.com/chatbot trends-report 2021 b15479c404e4 commbox (2022) Retrieved from https://www commbox io/chatbots--sales-revenue/

Costello, K , & Lodolce, M (n d ) Gartner predicts Chatbots will become a primary customer service channel within five years. Gartner. Retrieved from https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2022 07 27 gartner predictschatbots will become a primary customer service channel within five years

Csutoras, B (2022, May 18) The future of chatbots: Use cases & opportunities you need to know Search Engine Journal. https://www.searchenginejournal.com/future of chatbots/278595/#close

Dilmegani, C. (2018, March 29). Top 14 chatbots benefits for companies & customers. AIMultiple. https://research aimultiple com/chatbot benefits/ Delmegani, C (2022, October 12) AI Multiple Retrieved from AI Multiple: https://research.aimultiple.com/chatbot benefits/ DeWeerdt, S. (2020, November 10). The carbon footprint of artificial intelligence is growing. Anthropocene. Retrieved October 31, 2022, from https://www anthropocenemagazine org/2020/11/time to talk about carbon footprint artificial intelligence/ Gupta, A., Hathwar, D., & Vijayakumar, A. (2020). Introduction to Ai Chatbots. International Journal of Engineering Research And, V9(07) https://doi org/10 17577/ijertv9is070143

Haughey, C. (2021, October 17). 12 incredible benefits of chatbots and how to get them all. EngageBay All in one marketing, sales, and service software for growing businesses. https://www.engagebay.com/blog/benefits chatbots/

IBM Cloud Education. (2020, July 2). What is natural language processing? IBM. Retrieved October 31, 2022, from https://www ibm com/cloud/learn/natural language processing Jain, S. (2021, October 20). Top 9 industries that are using AI chatbot for business.

REFERENCES:

ORAI Robotics. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://www.orai robotics.com/post/top industries using conversational ai

Lawroski, P. (2022, October 8). Chatbots 101: how to improve customer service and increase sales with bots. Keap. https://keap.com/business success-blog/marketing/chatbots 101 how to improve customer service and increase sales-with bots

Luzhanskiy, I. (2019). Chatbot Development Company. Retrieved from Chatbots.studio: https://chatbots studio/blog/ Madhab, N. (2021, October 12). Top challenges faced by conversational AI that you should be aware of. Chatbots Life. https://chatbotslife.com/top challenges-faced by conversational ai that you should be aware of 58155b43a615

Makadia, H. (2022, June 16). Everything you need to know about chatbot pricing in 2022 WotNot No Code Chatbot Platform | Free Chatbot Platform | WotNot https://wotnot.io/blog/chatbot pricing/

Mercier, M (2022, September 6) Retrieved from Botpress: https://botpress com/blog/roi for chatbots Patel, S. (2022, August 22). 10 awesome chatbot benefits for your business. REVE Chat. https://www revechat com/blog/chatbot business-benefits/ Pazos, A. (2018, September 7). Chatbots: How they save a business time and money. Medium. https://medium datadriveninvestor com/chatbots how they save a business-time and money bb4427697efb

Polito, S. (2021, February 17). 4 facts about chatbot effectiveness marketers can't ignore. IMPACT: Inbound Marketing & HubSpot Training https://www impactplus com/blog/facts chatbot strategy

RiveScript Artificial Intelligence Scripting Language RiveScript com (2022) Retrieved October 31, 2022, from https://www.rivescript.com/ Sales chatbots: How to grow revenue using conversational AI (n d ) CommBox https://www.commbox.io/chatbots-salesrevenue/#:~:text=Chatbots%20%20also%20%20improve%20your%20%20SLA,for%20a%20bett er%20customer%20experience

Shanbhag, A (2022, March 15) How can sales bots boost revenue BotCore https://botcore.ai/blog/sales chatbot boosts-revenue/

REFERENCES:

Singh, P. (2021, September 16). Chatbot scripts: Step by step guide for conversational UI. REVE Chat Retrieved October 31, 2022, from https://www revechat com/blog/chatbot scripts/

Staff, A. (2020, March 26). The benefits and disadvantages of AI chatbots [Infographic]. AdvertiseMint.https://www.advertisemint.com/the benefits and disadvantages-of ai chatbots infographic/

Success story: U Report liberia exposes sex 4 grades in school. U. (n.d.). Retrieved October 31, 2022, from https://ureport in/story/194/

World Health Organization. (n.d.). Who and Rakuten Viber fight COVID 19 misinformation with interactive chatbot. World Health Organization. Retrieved October 31, 2022, from https://www.who.int/news room/feature stories/detail/who and rakuten viber fight covid 19 misinformation-with-interactive-chatbot

Wouters, J (2020, December 20) 3 chatbot types: Which is best for your business? Chatimize Retrieved October 25, 2022, from https://chatimize.com/chatbot types/

Zabój, D (2019, March 19) How to create chatbot buttons that people love to click ChatBot Blog Retrieved October 25, 2022, from https://www.chatbot.com/blog/how to create chatbot buttons that people love to click/

PamelaBernadetteBautistaisaDataManagementOfficerat Citibank RegionalOperatingHeadquarterslocatedatBGC,Taguig. SheispartoftheInformationServicesGroupwhichisresponsiblefor providingauthoritativesourcesofreferencedatatoclients Sheis responsibleforreviewing,pricing,andprovidingbusiness intelligencearoundcriticaldata

CamilleJoyceL.ChuaiscurrentlytheAssistantGeneralManager andtheOnlineDepartmentHeadofDashCulturaland EducationalInstitute,Inc.,aChineselanguageschoollocatedin QuezonCity Duringthepandemic,shehelpedmigratetheentire operationsoftheschooltosuittheonlinesetup.Sheis responsibleforoverseeingtheonlineoperationsandcreating contentforsocialmediamarketing.Sheisalsoalicensed professionalteacherandaregisteredguidancecounselor

ReinerosaSeseGutierreziscurrentlyworkinginagovernment ownedandcontrolledcorporation,LandbankofthePhilippines.She iscurrentlyassignedtoMakati TordesillasbranchasaBranchServic Officer,whereinsheisresponsibleformanagingcashinoperations andinthevaultandalsocheckingandsupervisingtheassociates' day to daybranchtransactions

T e c h n o l o g y D e s c r i p t i o n

According to the study (Education, 2022), Robotic process automation (RPA) uses software technology that works how software technology that works the way humans interact to perform high volume and repeatable tasks It creates software programs that use automation technologies in doing tasks such as pulling out of data, stuffing in forms etc To perform routine tasks between operation and productivity software applications RPA combines API and user interactions

In performing business process activities at a high volume, it uses rule based software, which frees up human resources to prioritize more complex tasks

RPA and intelligent automation

For RPA to persist in competitiveness, it needs to excel beyond task automation They can also consider including intelligent automation This will expand RPA functionality by incorporating disciplines from artificial intelligence You can think of AI as thinking and learning while RPA on the other hand is the one doing the tasks As such, it trains algorithms to perform tasks in a faster and more structured way

RPA and artificial intelligence

Most are usually confused between RPA and AI or artificial intelligence, but these two have different functions and uses RPA is process driven, while AI is data driven RPA follows the process that is defined by an end user On the other hand, AI bots machines recognize patterns in data In addition, RPA focuses on the replication of human tasks, while AI is intended to simulate human intelligence They are different in how they automate processes Moreover, both are leaning towards minimizing human work On that note, these two really complement each other as AI can help RPA functions to process more complex cases RPA allows AI to function faster

RPA and Hyper automation

This concept focuses on digitizing what can be automated in a business Businesses that adopt hyper automation targets to streamline all the processes, and leverage their technologies including robotic process automation (RPA)

How does RPA work?

According to Forrester (2022), Core capabilities for RPA software tools must include the following:

1 Abilities to use low code

2 Integration with enterprise applications

3 Orchestration and administration

Its information can go through legacy systems and connect well to other applications through integration of the front end This allows the automation tools to mimic human workers

TRENDS IN TECHNOLOGY

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has become a household name in technology improvement When the recent unprecedented event happened which is the pandemic it forced organizations to work with a minimal workforce and introduce a work from home set up, where it led organizations to increase demand in digitalization. Thus, RPA is an obvious choice to cope up in this kind of situation

RPA will become a mandate for CIOs

While CIO’s authorization depends on the organization they are connected with, it generally follows the same flow, which makes the IT department more efficient as possible.

But sometimes limited workforce and resources can be a hindrance to a never- ending task list and productivity may affect. This is why IT leaders are considering Robotic Process automation to help each department with their routine work and add value to the business.

Intelligent automation for cognitive tasks

This will enable businesses to automate processes including emails, letters, and voice recordings.

The real benefit of this system is to help an organization to automate more complex, efficient, and less-rule-based tasks.

Building RPA COE can improve business ability in achieving automation and digitalization goals leaning towards maximizing the ROI.

Thus, CoE can combine learnings and drive organizations to align multiple disciplines together.

Non-tech industries are finance, insurance, eCommerce, and human resource.

Hence RPA can be used to function in supply chain management, customer service, payroll and administrative processing, inventories, scheduling etc. Thus, RPA will not only help tech companies but almost all industries to boost employee productivity by freeing employees from time-consuming and routine tasks.

Upskilling

non-tech employees in RPA tasks

Nowadays, digitization and automation are in high demand.

Business leaders are looking to upskill and boost training programs for non technical employees. As such companies globally are turning to automation to boost their business productivity and employee satisfaction. As automation and AI tools become more of a requirement in enterprise settings, leaders and executives sought to understand how it is important that all employees, even non technical ones, have AI and automation skills regardless of their job focus.

The emergence of the Center of Excellence for RPA

Non-tech industries will increase RPA adoption

of

Reduce Costs

It will boost utilization which will result in lowering costs Moreover, a reduction in spare time and waiting time also enables a reduction in costs

Higher Efficiency

Robotic automation business allows to operate 24x7 and lessen errors towards the better output.

Better Monitoring

This will help produce larger logs of the robotic actions and make sure of continuous monitoring

Increased productivity

Automation of routine tasks allows employees to focus on many important tasks. This will lead to a better focus on business aspects and end customers.

Enhanced Customer Satisfaction

This will lessen turnaround time and secure consistency and quick responsive service to customers Next, think of a compelling feature for your cover story. This will be what draws your audience in. Make sure that you have accompanying visual content that immediately catches the eye.

Strengths Weaknesses

Attrition

Even though bots will not replace human workers, still it will come to consider that if bots handle increasing workloads it will lead for businesses to not hire additional employees who would work on the increasing volume of tasks.

Sprawling Technology

As businesses invest in digitization, they also risk creating more unwieldy collections that are costly to manage and maintain.

Added Complexity

Like other automation tools, RPA can create additional software anytime, and if this is not properly managed and governed it will hinder business improvements and strategies at the same time

Magnification of Problematic Processes

If RPA did not undergo proper testing and reengineering prior to implementation it may occur to additional costs that will affect the return of investment of any business.

Opportunities

Provide RPA training and lectures to employees

It provides new and different skills to individuals while ensuring that knowledge, experience, and understanding is preserved. It is a vital component for success in preparing each individual for the coming age of digitalization and automation.

Process improvement

It continues to provide the need for process improvement as automation performs tasks and humans manage and provide service delivery to position RPA as an enabler of innovation.

Attract Business

RPA is a roadmap for future projects. As this will help in cost reduction, this will improve communication by replacing documents with RPA tools. Thus RPA can be a win-win situation to everyone who is involved.

A strong change management

This enables companies to automate routines, which will continue to make employees more productive and improve business efficiency.

Threats

Security

There is some organization that does not have equipped IT, security, and risk management policy prior to the implementation of this automation, and this may hinder the comfort of stakeholders and security breach.

Metrics

Measuring the automation impact is always a challenge among organizations due to a lack of defined metrics. Thus, metrics should be used to measure the success or failure of RPA implementation.

Business/Industry/ Education Applications

ROBOTIC PROCESS AUTOMATION

Organizations can save money and time by incorporating RPA into their systems. Robots, like humans, utilize a user interface to receive data and control applications. They comprehend, initiate responses, and connect with other systems to perform a variety of repetitive tasks. Another essential characteristic of RPA software is that it never sleeps and makes no errors RPA has applications in the business, industry, and education areas

Here are some potential applications of the listed areas:

Business Applications

Dunkin Donuts uses "Number One" robots during the pandemic. The organization was inspired to examine how robots can strengthen supply chains and reduce risk during pandemics and other crises. Robots at Dunkin Philippines serve customers creatively and efficiently

How does "Number One" serve? Before proceeding to the table number assigned by the service crew, the customer must first place and pay for the Dunkin' Donuts order. Number 1 will show up at the customer's table and deliver the food and drinks that have been placed in a compartment on the back of Number 1. Following the receipt of your Dunkin' Donuts order, the service staff will remotely instruct Number 1 to vacate your table so that the customer can enjoy his/her order (Faicol, 2022)

Another example are banks. The can use or using RPA in the following areas: Traditionally, it could take weeks to assess consumer information and issue credit cards. Customers were dissatisfied with the lengthy wait time, and banks incurred a cost. However, RPA allows banks to process applications in hours as RPA can interact with numerous systems at once to verify customer data and then make an assessment based on the client's eligibility under the company's policy ("Robotic process automation (RPA) in banking industry [Updated 2022],"2022).

Application for Credit Card Fraud Detection

Fraud is one of the primary concerns banks have with the implementation of digital systems. It is extremely challenging for banks to monitor all transactions in order to identify potentially fraudulent ones. In contrast, RPA may monitor transactions real time and identify potential fraud transaction behaviors, minimizing turnaround time. RPA can restrict accounts and interrupt transactions to prevent fraud. ("Robotic process automation (RPA) in banking industry

[Updated 2022]," 2022)

INDUSTRY APPLICATION

AccountingandFinanceIndustry

Multiple software systems are typically required for financial management. No single softwarepackagecanperformallnecessarytasks.RPAisideallysuitedforautomating tedious,repetitiveworkcausedbysystemseparation.(Aslani,2020)

RPAcanbeusedinvariousaccountingfields,including:

•PurchaseOrderProcessing

To get critical goods and services, staff can spend a lot of time processing purchase orders and routing them for approval The business could configure a software robot with"cognitive"datacapturetoolstoscanPOsforcriticalinformation,inputtheminto therightsystem,andrequestapproval.(Aslani,2020)

•BasicAccountingReconciliation

To compare the balances of crucial business accounts, a clerk must repeatedly log into and out of different systems, which wastes time. For future audits, accuracy is necessary. RPA robots can handle most of these tasks' fundamental components; humaninterventionisrequiredonlywhendatadoesnotmatch.(Aslani,2020)

•EnhancedFinancialAnalysis

For company decision makers, accurate and thorough reporting is essential. With robots handling a huge percentage of office finance tasks, employees can devote moretimetodataanalysisforsounddecisions.(Aslani,2020)

continuationto..

INDUSTRY APPLICATION

ManufacturingIndustry

•SupplyChainManagement

Supply chains across borders are challenging as they involve suppliers from various areas with varying technological capabilities. Smaller suppliers utilize manual processes, so their clients must track goods and orders via paper or PDF. RPA automates repetitive processes, allowing humans to focus on more complex tasks (Dilmegani,2021).

•InventoryReporting

RPA bots can optimize inventory report generation by obtaining, updating, and summarizing inventory data before transmitting it to the appropriate personnel. RPA providedthemwithvisibilityintotheirinventoryinreal-time,sothereorderingpointis nownoticeable.Toincreasetheefficiencyofreordering,manualdataexchangeerrors, such as inventory under/overestimation and incorrect reorders, were eliminated (Dilmegani,2021).

•OrderFulfillment

Order fulfillment includes all steps between customer order and delivery. Bots can detect order alerts, collect order data, analyze important information, modify order fields, generate an ERP transaction, and reply to customers with product availability and shipping information. With these, clients will be satisfied with the company ' s effectiveness and efficiency, thereby increasing their support for the products (Dilmegani,2021).

continuationto..

INDUSTRY APPLICATION

HealthcareIndustry

•PatientScheduling

PatientscanscheduleappointmentswithouthospitalstaffusingRPAtechnology.This application eliminates resource allocation for scheduling and improves customer relationsbyallowingpatientstoscheduleappointmentsfaster.TheRPAbotautomates patientschedulingandsendsoutappointmentreminders,therebydecreasingpatient no showsandboostinghospitalappointmentattendance.(Dilmegani,2020)

•ClinicalDecisionSupport

To diagnose a clinical condition and make a decision, reports, history, and other factorsmustbeexamined.Thesecanbedoneautomaticallywithoutmissinganydata points with AI and Intelligent Automation. The specialist can better personalize and holisticallytreattheirpatients.(Gupta,2022)

•ClaimsManagement

Duetomanualandrepetitiveclaimsmanagementtaskslikeinputting,processing,and evaluatingdocumentsanddata,billingforhealthcareservicesmaytaketime.Errorsin claims processing can be eliminated, and time consuming procedures can be automated, with an RPA led claims management system. RPA will minimize human error. Most healthcare data processing is routine and rule based, which reduces humanerror.Theseprocessesareautomatedbybots,reducinghumanerror.Ifthebot developer writes precise code, the rule based processes will be error free and consistent.Furthermore,employeeturnovermayincreaseiftedioustasksareassigned to them. This necessitates additional hiring and onboarding costs, which reduces productivity(Dilmegani,2020)

Education Application

COURSE REGISTRATION

RPA bots can text or email students about class registration It matches students' financial and academic profiles to universities. RPA can check a student's registration history for course prerequisites. It checks if the student's other classes conflict. If none, students can save seats. (Eshghi, 2022)

PROCESSING TRANSCRIPTS

Outsourcing these time consuming but unimportant tasks to bots can reduce administrative staff workload and time, especially at universities with a high student to staff ratio. They can focus on student advising and financial planning. (Eshghi, 2022)

RPA bots can use screen scraping to collect and enter a student's end of term report card with their assessment grades, instructors' comments, and any additional information. (Eshghi, 2022)

This is especially useful for high school seniors applying to college who need to upload their high school transcripts to their college applications before the deadline. (Eshghi, 2022)

GRADING ASSIGNMENTS

Exam grading can be time consuming, especially for large electives with many students. Online assessments can be graded by rule based RPA bots.(Eshghi, 2022)

The bot's binary code for multiple choice questions reads, “If anything other than [the correctanswer], mark false.” For open ended questions, the bot can use NLP to search the answer for clues to the answer key. For instance, it can be instructed to mark an answer as "correct" if it contains a keyword from the answer key. (Eshghi, 2022)

R O B O T I C S P R O C E S S A U T O M A T I O N

COST AND BENEFIT ANALYSIS

a. Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

Cost of RPA Tools

These are categorized on the following: a. Cost of development b. Costs of maintenance c. Costs of infrastructure

Development Costs

1.

Training Cost

This covers the education of RPA analysts, developers, and enterprise standards for best practices.

2. RPA Consulting Cost

In addition to the installation fee, RPA will cost extra for things like user testing consulting, effect verification across departments, and management of the automation solution management change.

3. Configuration Cost

There may be additional expenditures associated with infrastructure setup, bot configuration for better monitoring, and RPA installation in the underlying applications, depending on the type of RPA solution.

4. RPA Production Tools

RPA companies can choose to purchase a production tool outright or merely pay for its use.

Maintenance Costs

1. Infrastructure Maintenance

Cost for infrastructure maintenance is necessary, particularly after an OEM system upgrade. Businesses may incur additional cost to the vendor for its update.

2. RPA Bot Services and Maintenance

As RPA bots exist in software applications, any upgrade on it requires an upgrade in both as well.

3. Miscellaneous Costs

As automation solutions are availed, there would be additional expenses relating to its improvement on various levels, and to other necessary areas.

Infrastructure Costs

1.

Software License

The kind of RPA to be used will determine the cost of its license.

2. Bot Hosting

The hosting solution can identify whether the automation process will either be standard or high performance.

b. RPA Benefits

RPA has been growing, especially during the pandemic, as a result of its significant contributions in automating important business tasks as well as its smooth implementation

Below are the listed benefits of Robotic Process Automation (RPA):

Improving business results RPA both directly and indirectly improves business results as to its:

a) Efficiency, accuracy, and 24/7 availability that improves the quality of processes. By having the RPA automate the tasks such as entering of several data, manual processing of reporting, or generating various emails, increases the speed that these processes can be done Hence, RPA has an on time process execution. It can be scheduled to initiate a process on a certain day at a precise time

Punctual process execution is essential on every activity in which if being done late, can jeopardize business continuity.

b) Lessen a human's workload and allow them to focus on its value adding activities. Automating the data allows people to focus more on a depth analysis, high level of data interpretation, and development of business models.

Creating new positions

While RPA is taking over some tasks, it is also creating new ones Instead of considering it as a threat to take away jobs or replace humans, this can be considered as a pathway in creating a job that will contribute positive impact on both the companies and its employees.

This also gives people the time to dedicate in depth analysis and allows them to focus on what is more important This should be considered as a helpful tool that will maximize employees’ productivity and capabilities, and for the companies to be on its competitive edge.

Reducing risk

RPA is low risk and non invasive projects that can be implemented quickly in rules based, repetitive, and structured processes without disturbing existing legacy systems Thus, minimal infrastructure risk.

It also reduces operational risks by lessening the potential of having manual errors such as duplication, outdated data, unauthorized access, and even the undiscovered cyber threats that might cause harmful consequences.

Reducing the exposure of sensitive information

Automating critical data leads to minimizing human access to the data. Hence, lowering the risk of fraud and other compliance cases Meanwhile, whenever RPA works with sensitive data, it can contain the use of encryption which significantly reduces the chance of exposure or breach. Thus, giving higher compliance benefits.

Improving focus on IT innovation

RPA assists in collecting information from various sources to automate specific repetitive tasks by IT Teams such as entering of various data, reporting processes, and solving issues on help desk Through automation, it will definitely help them to focus on more productive and high value activities

Increasing customer satisfaction

RPA helps in improving customer experience by:

a Focusing on tasks that takes good care on customer relationships

b Giving quick response to customer queries through the chat box. Instant replies are being provided

c. Resolving customers’ concerns easily by having a robot that shows relevant information on an agent’s computer to access critical information without needing a huge amount of time.

Increasing employee satisfaction

Using RPA to perform low level and repetitive manual tasks reduces data errors, work overload, and work burnout. Hence, saves the effort of the people who need to perform the task

Efficient change management

Companies can leverage RPA bots to automate their change management. The manual submission of the change request form can be converted to having digital documents that can be easily read, evaluated, and provide a preliminary assessment of the urgency of the issue. The end to end process of change management can be made more efficient and quicker.

Having audit trail Audit trail logs the processes they have done Having accurate records and showing flow of transactions, in case issues arise.

c. Financial Analysis

Return on Investment

The process of automation leads in achieving the business goals by having a positive ROI However, without understanding the initiatives of ROI, the automation technology or the process will be ineffective in having an effective decision making. To achieve this, ROI must have a high focus on planning, implementation, and governance By analyzing the business impact, the Automation Team can create additional support on how they can ensure that their process will deliver greatest value to the business.

Payback Period

As RPA helps the organization to have the ability in doing the business more efficiently and managing valuable opportunities on its high level, the payback period on implementing the new technology will be greatly attractive, and often takes at least six months or a year.

d Actual Examples for the Cost Benefit Analysis of

RPA

The table below details the perspectives of some businesses who successfully used Input Technologies:

Below

The illustration below shows the perspectives of three businesses who also successfully used RPA. It shows how the results were tied to the same framework.

The table below details the perspectives of three businesses who successfully used Automation Anywhere:

table shows some of the companies who successfully used BluePrism’s RPA:

R O B O T I C S P R O C E S S A U T O M A T I O N

ROBOTICS PROCESS AUTOMATION

ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS

As we learn that Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a technology that uses specialized computers to make any repeatable process automated and standardized, we unfold its ethical implications as we move forward This technology uses software robots or bots to make this mechanization possible To make it simpler, imagine again a bot sitting in front of a computer and doing all the tasks a person would repeatedly do. RPA does not involve any physical bot but mimics human activities the same way a person does.

We also know that there are different bots categories, including Finance and Accounting, AI, IT, Sales, Support, and Human Resources Let us take the latter as an example When hiring a prospective employee, an HR representative does a lot of paperwork If they want an employee with the same industry experience but needs to meet years of experience, that would be two pieces of research for each category. So, if there are thousands of applicants, the HR representative would need to manually go through them one by one Remember that these are only two categories; imagine if the position the company wants to fill is more specialized than generalized It would consume most of the day’s work to filter that out We also know that there are other tasks a representative does and may be unable to get all these things done, knowing that more than half of the day has been spent doing the first two tasks. Not only that but the quality might also get affected due to strenuous activities and results in unsatisfactory outcomes. When the company thinks that they got the best applicant, a single mistake from the filtering process, let’s say, would have only gotten them the third or fifth most suitable individual for the role

Now, when the company uses bots to do the same monotonous tasks. A company will tell its bot to focus on two keywords. One is the industry experience, and the second is the years of experience.

The bot will fetch all these details from the portal and then filter them automatically. It would only take a few minutes to get the results and the two tasks done. However, the potential of being unable to supervise or control can be overlooked.

One of RPA’s flaws is to miss minor and even major processes that can lead to tremendous problems later. Operators, as we know, are responsible for managing and operating a system. RPA technology works in an open environment, so it is difficult to acknowledge and supervise the behavior.

RPA technology may also provide a client's data to a third party which could violate data privacy. Example, a software bot may have the travel history of a client and an offender might track him/her down for criminal activities or use the client's data for fraudulent transactions. RPA technology has both positive and negative impacts when it comes to safety. We know that the main motive in using this technology is to improve the safety of software bots by minimizing human error. Some incidents, however, indicate that software can also cause casualties. The decisionmaking process is not transparent therefore a chance of opacity. This leads to biased and wrong decisions.

Most of all, as it revolves throughout everything that was mentioned, it can serve as a replacement to an individual’s work. Employees that do repetitive tasks are most concerned with the situation as the chance of having them removed and jobless are near occurrence. Organizations should be obliged to aid employees whom RPA affects. Rather than have employees hate RPA, companies can sell RPA as their friendly assistant. Organizations should be wise to know that not all activities can be replaced by bots. It just can’t.

NATION BUILDING

ROBOTICS PROCESS AUTOMATION

The information technology and business process management industry create millions of jobs in our country. To name a few, this includes contact centers, business process outsourcing, and offshore service delivery. RPA, which has a major role in all these, provides a great opportunity for pulling up the Philippine's economy.

RPA software revenues growth over the years have been increasing and is ideal for business processes that are time-consuming, rule-based, repetitive, transaction-heavy, and labor- intensive. Besides the line of businesses previously mentioned, some of the largest adoption of RPA also happens in industries including banking, insurance, telecommunication, manufacturing, and utilities. It helps these companies increase productivity by a huge percentage, improve customer experience, and scale automation.

Organizations benefit from RPA adoption as it gains greater control over processes, decreases operational costs, less human errors, and maintains high quality of service/output. Some projects that require automation can be done within one to three weeks’ time. This depends on how complex the project is, but a lot faster than the months and years timeline it had before RPA was used. It saves business employees time and effort so they can concentrate on more useful and productive assignments.

Local businesses looking to expand their operations can benefit from using RPA. Automation technologies may help businesses develop, get ready for competitors, simplify operations, and prepare for the robotic revolution. Automation drives tomorrow's enterprise that steers a finer future for the nation.

REFERENCES:

Aslani, O. (2020, June 15). RPA in accounting and finance: 20 innovative use cases. Kofax Intelligent Automation for Digital Workflow Transformation. https://www.kofax.com/learn/blog/12 innovative use cases rpa finance accounting#:~:text=What%20is%20RPA%20in%20finance,on%20the%20specific%20use% 20case

Automation Anywhere. (2021, January 30). Customer story. Automation Anywhere. Retrieved October 31, 2022, from https://www.automationanywhere.com/resources/customer stories?industry=All®ion=731&sort by=latest

Dilmegani, C. (2020, October 8). RPA in healthcare: Benefits, use cases & case studies in 2022 AIMultiple. https://research.aimultiple.com/rpa-healthcare/ Dilmegani, C (2021, July 11) Top 8 use cases & benefits of RPA in manufacturing AIMultiple https://research.aimultiple.com/rpa manufacturing/ Editor. (2019, June 6). 4 ways RPA Can Benefit Finance & Accounting. Inpute Technologies. Retrieved October 31, 2022, from https://inpute com/rpa finance accounting/ Eshghi, B. (2022, March 27). Top 13 use cases of RPA in education in 2022. AIMultiple. https://research.aimultiple.com/rpa education/ Faicol, B. (2022, January 7). Meet "Number 1," Dunkin's First Ever Robot Server. Yummy PH. https://www.yummy.ph/news trends/dunkin philippines robot server a00260 20220107 Gupta, D. (2022, July 22). Top 5 applications of RPA in healthcare. Appinventiv. https://appinventiv.com/blog/rpa-in-healthcare/

REFERENCES:

Robotic process automation (RPA) in banking industry [Updated 2022]. (2022, August 25). AutomationEdge https://automationedge com/blogs/robotic process automation rpa in banking industry/ RPA Resources & Webinars. SS&C Blue Prism. (n.d.). Retrieved October 31, 2022, from https://www.blueprism.com/resources/?&category=caseStudies&order=title

Sherifjallad (2021, June 19) RPA benefits and advantages ( efficiency, accuracy, cost reduction). Mapping RPA. Retrieved October 31, 2022, from https://mappingrpa.com/rpa benefits and advantages efficiency accuracy cost reduction/ UiPath Inc. (n.d.). What is Robotic Process Automation RPA Software UiPath.Retrieved October 31,2022.from https://www.uipath.com/rpa/robotic process automation

Lawton, G. (2021, April 23). robotic process automation (RPA). SearchCIO. https://www.techtarget.com/searchcio/definition/RPA

Education, I. C. (2022b, September 29). Robotic Process Automation. https://www.ibm.com/cloud/learn/rpa

Jayaraman, S (2022, September 5) 8 RPA Trends that Will Characterize Automation [in 2022]. Perfomatix | Product Engineering Services Company. https://www.perfomatix.com/rpa-trends/

ElaineC.deGuzman,CPA,isaCreditAnalystatPetronCorporation Hercurrent responsibilityistodetermineacustomer'screditworthinessbycollectingfinancial information,suchastheirincomeandrepaymenthistory,todeterminetheirability tomeettheirfinancialobligations ElainelearnedaBSinManagementAccounting fromtheUniversityofSantoTomasandearnedherseconddegree,BS Accountancy,fromColegiodeSanJuandeLetran Elainebelievesthatlearningis acontinuousprocess SheiscurrentlyenrolledintheAteneoGraduateSchoolof Business'sMBAStandardProgram,whichwillhelpherhoneherleadershipand decision makingskills

AngelicaSelineS.TanisaCertifiedPublicAccountant,currently workinginCitibankasSeniorFinanceReportingAnalyst Angelhandles theRiskWeightedAssets(RWA)oftheBank'sfinancial exposures.Sheearnedherdegree,BSAccountancy,atSt.Scholastica's College,Manila,anddecidedtopursuehereducationinAteneo GraduateSchoolofBusinesstobeinthehighlevelofcontinuous learningandcontributetoconstantimprovementandsuccessofthe company.

AngelynC.BeltrancurrentlyworksasaProcurementManageratQuantrics EnterpriseInc Shehasalotofexperienceinthesupplychainfromherformer employers,wheresheheldpositionsofsupplychainplannerforfinishedgoods andrawmaterialstoseniorsupplychainanalyst She graduatedfrom PolytechnicUniversityofthePhilippineswithadegreeofBachelorofSciencein IndustrialEngineering SheisenrolledintheMBAStandardProgramatthe AteneoGraduateSchoolofBusinesstobetterprepareherselfforherfuture pursuits.

Self Driving Vehicles

Technology Description

A. Technical Environment

A self driving vehicle, also known as an autonomous vehicle, utilizes an integration of LiDAR units, cameras, radar sensors, and computer for analysis to transport from Point A to Point B without the guidance of a human Figure 1 shows the different components of a self driving vehicle which enables it to operate autonomously

One of the main components of a self driving vehicle is the Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) which is a sensor technology that perceives the environment by using laser wave pulses to generate 3D rendering of its environment Once LiDAR sees and identifies the surrounding objects, it predicts behavior to determine the vehicle’s reaction. To put it simply, it performs as the eyes of the autonomous vehicle. Laser, Receiver, Scanner, and Global Positioning (GPS) are the four components that build a LiDAR system.

Self driving vehicles developers use AI technologies to power the self driving vehicles Big data from the cameras, machine learning, and computer systems are utilized to create systems which enable the vehicles to drive autonomously (Lutkevich, 2019) As the system is exposed to driving, more data can be collected and inputted to the machine learning algorithms. Based on the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), self driving vehicles can be classified into six (6) levels of driving automation as shown in below figure (Synopsys, 2019).

One of the most popular self driving vehicle projects is Google's Waymo, launched last 2019 This project aims to drive without a driver over ten uninterrupted 100 mile routes. At present, it offers a service wherein riders hail a self driving car to transport them to their specified destination and then will provide feedback to Waymo (Lutkevich, 2019). For safety purposes, a safety driver is still provided in case the Automated Driving System (ADS) requires it to be overruled. This service is only available in Metro Phoenix and San Francisco and will soon be expanded in Los Angeles (Lutkevich, 2019) Below figure illustrates how Google's Waymo vehicles work

Aside from Google, other companies are also developing self driving vehicles such as Honda, Toyota, Audi, and Volvo. Though major automakers and tech giants are in the race to produce self - driving vehicles, the industry’s average is still at Level 2 which is capable of controlling the steering, acceleration and braking while still requiring drivers to remain engaged (CBS News, 2022).

Self Driving Vehicles

TRENDS IN THE TECHNOLOGY

utomobile companies have shifted their focus and resources in the direction of automated trucks and delivery vehicles when robo taxis have proved to be more challenging because of market demand and technological hurdles (World Economic Forum, 2021) The automated trucks and delivery vehicles target the practical services such as consumer goods and delivery which is more appealing to the investors Waymo (Waymo Via) and Aurora are in the process of developing trucks and conducting trials in Phoenix Arizona and California (World Economic Forum, 2021)

SHIFTTOWARDS AUTONOMOUS DELIVERYVEHICLES IN CARAPPLICATIONS

STRATEGICSYNERGYBETWEEN AUTOMOBILECOMPANIES

Developing a self driving vehicle has shown to be more difficult than anticipated because it requires capital intensive technology and continuous R&D Thus, a strategic synergy within the industry is needed to realize the success of self driving vehicles These synergies are already seen in some of the companies such as the acquisition of Zoox by Amazon, Ford and Volkswagen partnership, and selling of Uber and Lyft’s Autonomous Vehicle Division to Aurora and Toyota respectively A group called Autonomous Vehicle Computing Consortium (AVCC) is also formed which includes top automobile companies, major automotive suppliers and integrated circuit manufacturers

MACHINELEARNING

Self driving vehicles success highly depends on the processing of a massive volume of data in order to quickly respond to any situation or environment Based on the VP of Aptiv, an hour of autonomous driving generates 4TB of data With that significant volume, a reliable infrastructure is needed such as the Internet of Things (IoT) systems It basically assists the self driving vehicle to communicate with each other and share information such as congested roadways

INCREASE DEPLOYMENTIN DENSEURBANCITIES

Testing of self driving vehicles is mostly conducted in suburban areas or expensive urban areas like Phoenix Arizona which have easier testing conditions and cover longer mileage (World Economic Forum, 2021) However, market demand in these areas cannot maintain the profitability of self driving vehicles due to limited demand and low economic incentives To fully test the capability of these vehicles and expedite its development it should conduct its test in condensed urban cities like New York, London, or China where the market demand is high (World Economic Forum, 2021) At present, most of the automobile companies are shifting their testing to these dense urban areas Some examples are Cruise, Zoox, and Waymo in San Francisco, and AutoX, Baidu and Didi Chuxing in China (World Economic Forum, 2021)

Meanwhile Artificial Intelligence (AI) connects data processing Big Data and Internet of Things (IoT) With its machine learning algorithms, the vehicles are able to navigate traffic easily, respond to complex situations, read traffic signals, and monitor the surrounding environment

DIGITALFACTORIES

Aside from the improvement of driver / passenger experience during traveling, in car applications provide important paths to capture and process data such as weather and road conditions traffic congestion etc Based on the Allied Market Research car infotainment s global market is forecasted to be 21 53 billion dollars by 2026 Some of the popular in car applications are Apple CarPlay Android Auto, Google Maps, and Spotify

Page 72

SWOT Analysis

Below figure shows the SWOT analysis of Self Driving Vehicles to further develop a better understanding of this emerging technology.

Strengths

● Source of life saving technology

SELFDRIVING VEHICLES

Based on the Global Road Safety Statistics of Brake Organization, more than 1 35 million people pass away on the road annually Deaths related to roads become the eight highest cause of death for people of all ages, especially the ages of 5 29. Moreover, 93% of the road deaths happened in the low or middle income countries and reduction in the numbers has not been observed since 2013

● Transport for Impaired

With the aim of self driving vehicles to operate themselves under all driving conditions without the supervision of a driver, this creates an opportunity to the people with disabilities basic freedom to come and go as they please. Transportation is key for people to get to work and interact with the public

● Efficient Use of Time

In principle, it is expected that traffic would flow smoothly and traffic congestion would lessen when self driving vehicles dominated the roads Moreover, the passengers would have the luxury to do productive activities while traveling from one place to another.

● Urban Landscape Redesign

Besides the efficient use of people’s time, self driving vehicles will mainly affect the design of our communities, especially the urban landscape Given that vehicles can drop people off at their desired destination and proceed to the next destination, there will be no need for parking lots or underground parking garages. Thes existing parking spaces may be repurpose to green spaces such as parks or recreational spaces At present, the Chinese government has begun redesigning its urban landscapes to create a suitable environment for self driving vehicles Some of their efforts include written rules on human movements and recruitment of operators to assist in the data needed by the self driving vehicles to navigate

SELFDRIVING VEHICLES

Weaknesses

● Reliance on Technology

One of the downsides of self driving vehicles is people have to rely on the technology for their safety Naturally, riding a vehicle without a driver is unusual and may cause some uneasiness However, once this technology is fully accepted, people will have to trust the automation functionality of the vehicles

● Unclear Legal Implications

Human error is the primary cause of road accidents With self driving vehicles, this posed a question on who will be responsible should a road accident happen Should it be the self driving vehicle? The passenger who used the service? Or the vehicle manufacturer? To address such concerns, an update of the law should be done by the industry and regulators.

● Heavy Testing Requirement

Massive amount of data should be collected and numerous tests should be conducted to fully implement and launch the self driving vehicle Some of these data include the objects of surroundings areas and vehicle’s path At present, Google and US Road Network have mapped 2,000 and 4,000 miles of road, respectively.

OPPORTUNITIES

● Paradigm Shift in Transportation System

A new ownership structure may be presented since vehicles will become more expensive Thus, the popularity of ride sharing may arise wherein transportation will become more of a pay as you go service With this set up, fewer cars will be on the road and resulting in a new life cycle for automobiles from the current average of 15 26 years to 3 5 years

● Electric Technology

With the introduction of self service vehicles, this could strengthen the use of electric technology in automobiles which is known to reduce carbon emissions in the environment. The redesigning of the landscape is also aligned with the electric vehicles as the areas may be allocated to multiple charging kiosks or central charging stations

● Economic Improvement

Positive impact on the economy is foreseen with the use of self driving vehicles First, since self driving vehicles will require landscape redesign, cities will expand and will be available for developmental projects. Second, despite the possible extinction of taxi and bus drivers, new occupations may emerge in the industry Lastly, a dramatic change in automobile manufacturing may happen when the volume of vehicles will increase annually As mentioned before, the life cycle of automobiles may change from 15 26 years to 3 5 years.

THREATS

● Injury via Unforeseen Scenarios

Similarly with human drivers, self driving vehicles process a staggering amount of information within seconds when encountered with a crash situation These responses were programmed by the developers months or years earlier However, it poses a threat when a scenario happens that was not foreseen or programmed by the developers or the decision making algorithm cannot process a set of factors

● Misuse of Technology

Every technology breakthrough comes with benefits and risks, this is no different with self driving vehicles Risks on these technologies may include tampering of software systems, reprogramming of self driving vehicles to malicious purposes or collecting and selling information about transportation history

U S T R Y O U T L O O K A N D A P P L I C A T I O N

INDUSTRY OUTLOOK

THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC HAS BROUGHT A SUPPLY CRUNCH IN THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY BECAUSE OF THE ONGOING SHORTAGE IN SEMICONDUCTOR CHIPS. THE INDUSTRY IS ALSO FACING SEVERAL CHALLENGES NAMELY HIGH FREIGHT EXPENSE, ACCELERATING OIL PRICES BECAUSE OF THE RUSSIA UKRAINE WAR, THE RECENT SHANGHAI, CHINA LOCKDOWN DURING THE 1ST HALF OF 2022 WHICH RESULTED IN PRODUCTION DELAY, AND GLOBAL INFLATION. THESE CHALLENGES BROUGHT LOW PRODUCTIVITY DEMAND LEVELS IN THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY MANY MANUFACTURERS WERE AFFECTED MOST ESPECIALLY THE SUPPLIERS OF AUTOMAKER COMPANIES WHO FULLY RELY ON ORDERS FROM THEM. ASIDE FROM THE PROFITABILITY OF MANUFACTURING COMPANIES, EMPLOYMENT OF LABORERS WERE AT RISK. MANY MANUFACTURING COMPANIES HAVE DECREASED THEIR WORKFORCE TO ALIGN WITH THE CURRENT OPERATION DEMAND. SINCE 2020, EMPLOYMENT RATES HAVE DECREASED DUE TO DECLINE IN OPERATION REQUIREMENTS ALTHOUGH THE ECONOMY IS ALREADY RECOVERING FROM THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC TOGETHER

WITH THE GRADUAL DEVELOPMENTS ON THE SUPPLY CHAIN RESTRICTIONS, IT MIGHT TAKE A WHILE FOR THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY TO GET BACK ON PRE PANDEMIC TRACK UNLIKE OTHER INDUSTRIES ACCORDING TO AN ARTICLE BY AMERICAN BUSINESS NEWS CHANNEL CNBC DATED OCTOBER 7, 2022, BRAND NEW CARS ARE SLOWLY BECOMING AVAILABLE IN STOCK HOWEVER PRICES HAVE GONE UP IN ORDER TO RECOVER FROM THE RECENT LOSSES OF THE AUTOMAKERS BASED ON THE ARTICLE, MANY MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO AFFORD A BRAND NEW CAR AS AUTOMAKERS FOCUS ON MANUFACTURING THEIR HIGH END MODELS AND DUE TO HIGHER FINANCING INTEREST RATES. IN THE AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE SECTOR, THE MARKET SIZE WAS RECORDED AT USD 23.33BN IN 2020

ACCORDING TO FACTS AND FACTORS THE IMPROVEMENTS IN PROFITABILITY WERE ATTRIBUTED BY ADVANCEMENT IN DRIVING TECHNOLOGY SUCH AS EASE IN DRIVING, SAFETY AND COMFORT, SYSTEMS UPGRADING THROUGH SENSORS, ALGORITHMS, ETC., AND HIGHLY DEVELOPED ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE THE AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE SECTOR IS FULLY INVESTED IN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT WHICH BOLSTERED THE POSITIVE OUTLOOK

Commercial

● Robotaxis

Autonom® Shuttle Evo by

IONIC 5 robotaxi by Hyundai x Motional. The company aims to provide a Level 4 vehicle that can operate without a driver. The robotaxi will be completely powered by an electric motor for sustainability, zero-emissions.

● Shuttles

Was awarded by Dubai Roads and Transport Authority in Self-Driving Transport for Best Customer Experience and Best Endurance and Reliability. The shuttle can take up to 15 passengers (11 seating and 4 standing). It can operate for an average of 9 hours and runs at a maximum speed of 25kph. Establishments and companies such as Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay and University of Michigan have already started using the autonomous shuttle.

● Small - Medium Delivery Vehicles

Autonomous pizza delivery truck by Dominos x Nuro. Dominos has partnered with a Robotics company, Nuro, to expand its delivery options through futuristic innovation. The autonomous pizza delivery truck is already available in one Domino’s Houston Texas branch on selected days and times.

Navya

SemiTrailerTrucks

II. INDUSTRIAL

cost and benefit analysis

A. Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

TCO is used for anything a person buys that will last for a long time and has costs along the way. Whether it's an Electric Vehicle (EV) or an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE), the TCO for a vehicle is mostly determined by the following factors. In this case, the estimated costs for both types of cars that can be bought on the market, which is a sedan, will be used.

d r i v i n g v e h i c l e s

The total cost of ownership for both EVs and ICEs shows that, for an average sedan, an EV is 13 percent cheaper than an ICE over a 3 year period. In this case, EVs may be expensive at first, but in the long run, their maintenance costs are much lower than those of ICEs.

Most of the time, buyers only think about the start and end of the TCO and pay little attention to the middle. Boston Consulting Group (BCG) thinks that the total cost of ownership (TCO) of plug in or electric vehicles (EVs) will be a big factor in their sales in the long run, which will make ICE less than half of all new cars sold around the world by 2030. In the past, technologies took off when people thought they were cheap and good, but not that great. The EV seems close to that point, especially if more people have a realistic idea of how far they need an electric car to go. This doesn't mean that electric cars are always less expensive. They tend to have higher sticker prices, insurance rates, and repair costs than other cars because they are newer and don't have as many parts

fd r i v i n g v e h i c l e s

But EVs are recognized to cost less to fuel and maintain. They don't have to be maintained as often as regular cars because they don't have as many parts, and financial incentives from the government can bring down the price. But because Tesla and GM's EVs are so popular, they no longer be eligible for big tax breaks from the federal govt. Consumer Reports recently been looking at how plug in cars start comparing to their regular cars in terms of how popular they are. They found that full battery and plug in hybrid vehicles cost half as much to fix and maintain as regular cars, and that pure electric vehicles save drivers 60 95 percent on energy costs

Below is an in depth study from Nickel Institute that shows a comparison between an ICE and EV on 3 factors the Vehicle Costs/Mileage, Fuel Costs and the Maintenance Costs

Data has shown conclusively that when EVs and ICEs are compared over a period of three years, EVs such as the TESLA S and Chevy Bolt are the more cost effective option. The only trade off is that EVs tend to be more expensive over seven and ten years for low mileage driving when compared to ICEs. This price difference ranges from 10 to 26 percent.

r i v i n g v e

In this scenario, the cost of fuel for an internal combustion engine (ICE) is two to three times higher than the cost of electricity for an electric vehicle (EV) that is charged at home. Additionally, the cost of maintenance for an ICE is twice as much as that of an EV. Electric vehicles have shown significantly lower total costs of ownership compared to ICE at high mileage.

B. Hidden Costs

● Installation of Charging Cable at Home: the average installation of such cable is estimated at $1,300 1,500. This cable is installed below the house and directs it through the garage

● Expel: this is where the traditional grill is located for a traditional combustion engine vehicle An installation of a clear paint protection film (PPF) called “expel” on the front and rear bumper, fenders, and side mirrors, which costs from $1,800 2,000 (this is a protection film for possible dents and scratches due to driving)

● Window Tint: Installation and procurement of tint is not inclusive from the initial price of the EV, in this case the costs of the tint ranges from $200 500.

● Interior Accessories: Rinseable floor mats costs $85, 20$ on screen protector and $100 for other cleaning supplies for the Electronic Vehicle Another is a cordless radar detector to help alert hidden speed traps along high/expressways which costs $205.

● Full Self Driving Upgrade: is the more enhanced version of the autopilot which costs about $10,000

● Insurance Premium: Vehicle insurance covering comprehensive and TPL costs at $1,224 per year

● EV Statistics Application: The application shows a dashboard of the energy consumption of the vehicle on periodic basis either per minute, hour or day, monthly and yearly which provides a subscription costs of $20/month

Self driving vehicles

C. Direct and Indirect Strategic Benefits

Generally, these self driving cars are electric vehicles in nature providing the following benefits:

EV companies have been trying to make their cars have a self driving mode so that customers can get where they need to go without having to do anything It has been shown that these companies have put all of their money into research and development, and research has shown that it has cost both new and old companies a total of $16 billion to build this feature. Aside from the $45 billion that companies have already spent on EVs in general. In this case, the income statement below will show how well a certain EV company did with its money (Tesla)

The company's finances have been in the red for the past five years, ever since it started making electric cars The sudden rise in sales and income in 2021 was caused by the production of electric cars that cost between $30,000 and $50,000 (Tesla 3/Y) and the opening of factories in the Asia Pacific region, which made it possible for people there to buy such expensive cars

● The projection was based on the company's actual performance over the last three years, from 2018 to 2021. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) showed a 14 percent growth rate over the years, which was used to predict the next five years of business, from 2022 to 2026. Even though operational costs are still expected to grow at an average rate of 9 percent, especially research and development.

● Cost of sales and operations growth was capped at an average of 9 percent and will slowly level off at 5 percent by 2026. This was done to account for the war between Ukraine and Russia, which we think will be over by then.

● Since oil prices are going up and raw materials are getting more expensive by the day, the best strategic move was to build a factory in China that will help the Asia-Pacific region.

● Given that the initial investment for the SDF is already $16 billion between Tesla and other companies, using Tesla's financial performance and market share of 13.84 percent compared to its competitors shows that the SDF costs for Tesla alone are $2.2 billion. In addition to this investment, Tesla continues to spend money on research and development to find new ways to improve the quality of life through innovation. With an initial investment of $2.2 billion and a projected average income of $1.7 billion, the return on investment is 173 percent, and the payback time is less than two years.

● Given the $45B and $16B investments in EV and SDF, the company has spent more than $47B on these investments. With a weighted average cost of capital of 16.58%, NPV has shown that this innovative project is worth $48B. ($3.1 billion for the SDF alone).

Most people dream of self-driving vehicles, especially when movies like Herbie Fully Loaded by Disney showed a very idealistic yet achievable modernization of vehicles. What started as an idea has become a reality with various phases and years that are put into the effort. Although, despite the time, money, and effort that was put into self-driving cars, there are still ethical dilemmas that need to be considered. According to Accenture, as stated by Sarah Koh, there is still no car that is 100% fully autonomous today, and such autonomous vehicles wouldn’t be in full force till’ 2030 (p.6,2022). Having that said, the following considerations must take into account why Self-Driving cars may not be ethical:

Ethical Implications Data Management

With Autonomous Cars, it is vital that there must be substantial data information collected in order to develop the concept of ‘self driving’ with navigation, voice recognition, etc With these, part of it are the threat that is the security of a large amount of data being withheld in the said technology. Hackers can enter the cars even without touching that car itself, especially when they are left in public parking or left unattended

According to Phil Yannella as stated in The Legal Impact of Autonomous Vehicles Podcast (Towards Data Science,2020) pointed that, multiple connections within public infrastructure, local area network (LAN), brakes, car to manufacturers and other autonomous vehicles may lead to hacking causing serious damage when entrusted to the wrong people (p20,2020)

Having that said, misuse of data, especially personal or confidential information, has always been rampant throughout the world that destroys many lives No one is safe from hacking, from small businesses to the biggest conglomerate Most of the time, when data is compromised, it may be difficult for a person or company trying to clear this issue, especially when it may hinder those people from doing their daily life activities

Today, crimes such as hacking may also be hard to track due to how coding and programming malware works and how deeply hackers may do their work If automobiles have the same possibilities of programming that can also be prone to viruses or malware, chances are, hackers may also get access to it as easily as they could do in front of their computers

Control over People’s Decision

Self driving cars may also be ethical because it controls the driver instead of the driver controlling the automobile One of the prime examples that experts provide is the car accidents that involve self driving cars In this example, usually, two people are responsible for the car crash or the driver itself But, in the self driving concept, the question people will raise is who would be responsible for the accident? Would it be the company manufacturing the car or the person who owns it? Will the programmers or the company be held liable for the car crash? (p.16,2020). These questions linger to many people that most may still choose to leave it to uncertainty than calculated decisions formed by the automobile.

In addition, because it gives power to control of the driver and its surrounding environment, governments have attempted to create rules and regulations regarding this

According to Towards Data Science, Germany tried solving the ethical issues by proposing that self driving cars should always try to keep people from dying and shouldn't treat people differently based on gender, age or anything else and must be given the highest priority against animals and property (p23,2020)

With this in mind, Germany believed that this kind of automobile must be given a chance by setting government mandated guidelines on how to make an ethical decision on who lives or who dies

Unfortunately, this may be seen as a control by the government rather than a win for most people Many people would also strongly disagree with this as it puts value on a life.

Self-Driving Vehicles

Nation Building

The introduction of self driving vehicle technology is rapidly advancing and most auto manufacturers are working together to achieve its incremental developments. This emerging technology doesn’t only intend to address issues on transportation but also to find a solution to everything. This technology is everything and it aims to transform how people should live and how to get around.

Despite the promising success of self driving vehicles technology in the near future, it is still accompanied by multiple challenges and questions that must be dealt with. One of which is who is going to own and protect the travel data? How will this kind of technological innovations be protected from the hackers or terrorists and any related cyber crimes like ransomware and cyber theft? Who will be liable if there’s an accident? Would it be the auto maker, software developer or the owner or driver? What’s gonna be the ruling of the government when it comes to driver’s licensing and what infrastructures are needed to successfully automate these self driving vehicles?

Hence, with all the questions we have, autonomous vehicles are coming and the said technological advancement has certain implications on humans economically, in our society and environment.

Self-Driving Vehicles

The breakthrough of self driving technology has now begun and this type of technological development uncovers its implications in the economy If most of the organizations will embrace this innovation, it could lead to the improvement of infrastructures to ease its production as well as its adoption Aside from its promise of reducing and eliminating road accidents, it also claimed to be more energy efficient which would impact the demand of gasoline to some level A recent study conducted by Morgan Stanley shows that developed countries embracing this technology will improve their economy in annual savings from car accidents and fuel costs In addition, self driving cars can promote worker productivity and be able to get where they want and be more efficient at the same time

However, it’s essential to consider potential downfall in the employment rate, specifically those low skilled workers Implication would be the challenge of searching for new jobs in the midst of an increasing technology driven economy.

Moreover, with the fast paced progress in this technology, insurance companies shouldn’t stay behind in reconsidering their business model and design strategies to adapt to its anticipated changes related to this technological development.

Self driving vehicles can drastically create sustainable urban mobility, such as shared services This ride sharing concept will significantly improve the accessibility and lifestyle of people Autonomous vehicles can be convenient for the older people and those with disabilities People who cannot drive can travel without manual navigation. This system can now be safer for drunk people and will outrageously reduce car accidents due to human decision errors and recognition. Also, parents can do other errands as it will be conducive for their children to get home on their own.

On the flip side, we must take into consideration that autonomous vehicles will be experiencing potential bumps along the way such as the legal concerns linked to this technology which includes who’s going to be accountable when an accident happens?

Therefore, its implementation needs extensive planning and regulation that might affect the entire transportation system.

One of the major catastrophic consequences of the vehicles right now is air pollution and experts have been searching for options to plummet the effects of this huge environmental issue Through the optimization of autonomous vehicles technology, it would aid traffic congestion unlike the conventional vehicles With its electric propulsion technology, it can reduce air pollution as it can operate with less fuel and navigate efficiently The shift to driverless vehicles can largely affect the number of vehicles on the road According to several reports, by 2030, almost 11 million autonomous vehicles would be operating on the road with a capacity of 64 people each In conclusion, this emerging technology is happening It ultimately requires government investment and people’s acceptance and participation to be fully autonomous The best implementations will depend on how the regulators, auto manufacturers and experts will work as one to innovate, integrate, sustain and develop this seamless technology

REFERENCES:

Autonomous Vehicles: Key Technology Trends. (2020, October 20). Codete Blog. https://codete.com/blog/autonomous-vehicles-technology

Are self driving cars the future? (n.d.). Kia Philippines. https://www kia com/ph/discover kia/ask/Are self driving cars the future html

CBS News. (2022, February 19). What’s the Status of self driving cars? There Has Been progress, but Safety Questions remain Retrieved at https://www.cbsnews.com/news/self driving cars status-progress-technology safety/ Darlington, Keith. (2018,November 7) The social implications of driverless cars. Retrieved at https://www bbvaopenmind com/en/technology/artificial intelligence/the social implicationsof driverless cars/ Daimler Truck North America (n d ) Retrieved from https://northamerica.daimlertruck.com/PressDetail/daimler truck s-independent subsidiary torc robotics 2022 04 12

Daimler Truck (2021, December 02) Retrieved from https://torc ai/trucking/daimler/ Domino's self driving delivery. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://selfdrivingdelivery.dominos.com/en

Facts & Factors. (2022, September 12). Global Autonomous cars market size to hit $64.88 bn by 2026, with 22 7% CAGR: Comprehensive Research Report by Facts & Factors. Retrieved from https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2022/09/ 12/2514043/0/en/Global Autonomous-Cars Market Size to Hit 64 88 Bn by 2026 With 2 2 7 CAGR Comprehensive Research Report by Facts Factors.html

Facts and Factors (n d ) Global Autonomous Cars Market Share Forecast to 2021-2026 Retrieved from https://www.fnfresearch.com/autonomous-cars market

Gragera, Albert et al. How can autonomous vehicles contribute to sustainable mobility planning? 2022,https://www intelligenttransport com/transport articles/131096/autonomous-vehiclessustainable mobility planning/

REFERENCES:

Global road safety statistics. (2018). Brake. Retrieved on https://www.brake.org.uk/getinvolved/takeaction/mybrake/knowledge centre/global road sa fety#:~:text=Every%20year%20over%201.35%20million

How Self-Driving Cars Society: Will they ever be fully autonomous. 4 April, 2022, https://theimpactinvestor.com/self driving cars/#:~:text=Impact%20of%20Self%20Driving% 20Cars%20on%20Jobs%20and,and%20many%20companies%20might%20go%20out%2 0of%20business.

Hartmans, A. (n.d.). How google's self driving car project rose from a crazy idea to a top contender in the race toward a driverless future. Retrieved from https://www businessinsider com/google-driverless-car-history-photos-2016-10#google-be gan its project with six toyota priuses-and an audi tt that drove through the streets-of mountain view california it hired a handful of people with perfect driving records-to sit behind the wheel a position it still hires-for seven years later 3

Hyundai Motor Company. (2022, September 23). Hyundai Robotaxis coming in 2023: Brand hyundai worldwide Retrieved November 2, 2022, from https://www.hyundai.com/worldwide/en/brand journal/mobility solution/robotaxis Impact of Self Driving Cars in the Economy 11 July, 2020, https://transporttechsystems.com/transport technology/impact of self driving cars-in the economy/

Joshi, Naveen “5 Moral Dilemmas That Self Driving Cars Face Today ” Forbes, 22 Aug.2022, Retrieved on October 30,2020, at www forbes com/sites/naveenjoshi/2022/08/05/5 moral dilemmasthat self driving cars face today/?sh=19f07124630d.

Koh, Sarah “The Moral Dilemmas behind Developing Self Driving Vehicles.” KrASIA, 17 Apr. 2022, kr asia com/the moral dilemmas behind developing self driving vehicles.

Lau, Andy “The Ethics of Self Driving Cars ” Medium, 13 Aug 2020, towardsdatascience.com/the ethics-of self driving cars efaaaaf9e320.

REFERENCES:

Ltd, R. (n.d.). Autonomous Vehicles Market Size, share, & trends analysis report by application (transportation, defense), by region (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, MEA) and segment forecasts, 2022 2030. Retrieved from https://www researchandmarkets com/reports/5595855/autonomous-vehicles-market-siz e shareand?utm source=GNOM&utm medium=PressRelease&utm code=lx2nmp&utm campaign=1706940%2B%2BGlobal%2BAutonomous%2BVehicles%2BMarket%2B%2 82022 2030%29%2B%2BProjected%2BCAGR%2Bof%2B53.6%25%2BDuring% 2Bthe%2BForecast%2BPeriod&utm exec=shbe20prd

Lutkevich, B. (2019, October). What are Self-Driving Cars and How Do They Work? SearchEnterpriseAI https://www.techtarget.com/searchenterpriseai/definition/driverless-car Metz, C (2018, March 19) How Driverless Cars See the World Around Them The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/19/technology/how driverless-cars-work.html

Research and Markets. (2022, June 01). Global Autonomous Vehicles Market (2022 2030) projected CAGR of 53.6% during the forecast period. Retrieved from https://www globenewswire com/en/news-release/2022/06/01/2454154/28124/en/Global Autonomous Vehicles Market 2022 2030 Projected CAGR of 53 6 During the Forecast Period html

Synopsys. (2019). What is an Autonomous Car? How Self Driving Cars Work | Synopsys. Synopsys com; Synopsys https://www.synopsys.com/automotive/what is autonomous-car.html

Sachdev, M. (n.d.). What is LiDAR? The eyes of self driving vehicles Blog rgbsi com https://blog.rgbsi.com/lidar eyes of self driving vehicles

SWOT (2014, November 13). Self Driving Car; Self Driving Car. https://selfdrivingcarproject wordpress.com/swot/

Self driving shuttle for passenger transportation (2022, March 21) Retrieved from https://navya.tech/en/solutions/moving people/self driving shuttle for passenger transpor tation/

REFERENCES:

Park Sejun14 July 2022 at 3:34 PMPermalink, & Sejun, P. (2021, April 07). Auto rider @ gardens by the Bay Autonomous shuttle bus service. Retrieved from https://landtransportguru.net/auto rider gbtb/

Top Five reasons to choose an electric car (n d ) Retrieved from https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/top five reasons-choose electric car

Top Gear's Top 20 Electric Cars. (2022, August 11). Retrieved from https://www.topgear.com/car news/electric/top gears top 20 electric cars Wayland, M. (2022, October 07). New cars are finally back in stock but Americans might not be able to afford them. Retrieved from https://www cnbc com/2022/10/07/new-cars-are-finally-back-in-stock-but-they-come-at-asteep price.html

Which trends are driving the autonomous vehicles industry? (n.d.). World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/11/trends-driving the autonomous-vehicles-indust ry/

500+CAT® Autonomous Trucks Operating Worldwide (n d ) Retrieved from https://www.caterpillar.com/en/news/caterpillarNews/2022/500 autonomous-trucks.html

MyanTrishiaB.DeLeonisalicensedChemicalEngineer workingatPetronCorporation Herworkexperienceincludes businessdevelopmentandsupplychainmanagement, specificallydistribution

NigelWenattendedJoseRizalUniversityandgraduatedwithadegreeinfinancial management AndiscurrentlyemployedinthecityofTaguigbyamoneytransfer operatororaremittancecompany Havingworkedinthefieldofcorporateplanningfor thepastsixyears,gainingexperienceinprojectmanagement,financialplanning,and strategicplanningfortheorganization Duetohisextensiveabilitytocoordinateclosely withvariousdepartmentsorunitsintheorganizationandunderstandeveryone'srole inthebusiness,heistypicallyreferredtoasthe"jack of all trades"Thisnamehas stuckwithhimthroughouthiscareer.

MarieBeatriceMendozagraduatedwithaMaster’sDegreein EducationfromtheUniversityofToronto.Sheworkedasa teacherforafewyearsinCanadabeforecomingbacktothe PhilippinestomanageabusinessinMicrofinance.Currently,she istheCEOandPresidentofBlessGroupofCompanies (Microfinance,RealEstateLeasingandAgriculture).Herwork experiencealsoincludescoffeebarista,banktellerandfarming (specificallycacaoandcoffee).

California,USA