Global Head of AI and Advanced Analytics at AVEVA, Mr. Jim Chappell, speaks to Emma Okonji on the power of Artificial Intelligence in supporting human intelligence, without replacing it, especially as large language models evolve and make their way into the workplace. He also speaks about the need for employee up-skilling to gain competitive advantage. Excerpts:
People are skeptical about the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI), insinuating that it will take away jobs meant for human. What do you make of this?
Those who are insinuating that AI will take away human jobs, have a wrong perception about AI. You may ask how AI can help you do your job better. I have been working with AI for more than 30 years now. Generative AI has been around for 60 years, but the technology is finally coming into its own with public access to massive Large Language Models (LLMs) from the likes of OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Microsoft and many others.
AI applications can now recognise facial features, help pass exams, produce text, video and images, as well as helping to speed up scientific discoveries. These tools are disrupting many industries, and they will continue to do so.
Recent forecasts by Morgan Stanley indicate that the technology could impact 44 per cent of jobs over the next few years as the scope of business processes that can be automated expands.
So how will you describe the power of AI in creating new jobs?
AI will augment human intelligence and not replace it, but at the same time, as AI takes care of the grunt work and just as Excel replaced manual arithmetic, it’s time to raise the bar for human beings. We have the information at our fingertips now, but how can we apply it, defend it and critique it?
Perhaps paradoxically, AI can also help people improve their skills and stay employable at a time when job roles are evolving faster than ever.
Experience is the best teacher, as the old adage goes.
Just start using generative AI today. Hands-on experience with AI is the best way to open doors to new opportunities. As AI makes greater inroads into the workplace, those who are already familiar with it, or are willing to learn how to use it, are the most likely to excel and progress.
Current generative AI tools can help make sense of large knowledge sets quickly. They can serve as a creative partner, quickly mocking up asset design options based on specific parameters. In some cases, AI-powered simulations provide the opportunity for operators and mechanics to familiarise themselves and virtually engage with complex systems, experiment with different scenarios and troubleshoot.
At a broader level, AI tools can support employers in bridging the skills gap. As of August last year, there were only six people unemployed for every ten jobs in the US, according to Bureau of Labour statistics.
As with individuals, employers can use immersive training simulations for teams, deploying them at scale so that staff can onboard new skills and problem-solving abilities in risk-free environments and sometimes, even from the comfort of their homes. Then, generative AI can be used to create engaging learning material such as videos quickly and on demand. A third application may be as a personal tutor, where technical educational materials can be tailored to individual learning patterns and strengths, so each engineer or operator can follow a proceed at their own pace.
All of these examples are just scratching the surface of what generative AI can or will soon be able to do.
From an expert point of view, is it right to be concerned about the rise of AI?
AI applications are a fair distance away from being able to replicate the kind of creative thinking, contextual understanding, interpersonal skills and ethical values that are so unique to human intellect.
There’s a lot we don’t know about how the human brain works, so it remains difficult, if not impossible to recreate this most complex of computers.
What we have been able to do is create new kinds of applications that perform better than human beings in relatively narrow areas. This is artificial narrow intelligence (ANI), which performs functional tasks very well. We see its applications in predictive analytics, AI-driven scheduling, and even computer chess.
The multinational consultancy firm, McKinsey, believes generative AI has the potential to deliver a business dividend of between $2.6 trillion to $4.4 trillion across 16 business functions. To understand that number in context, the UK’s entire gross domestic product was $3.1 trillion in 2021.
The biggest impact of AI in business, which is about 80 per cent of the occupational transitions between now and 2030, will be felt across four areas, according to McKinsey. These include customer operations, sales and marketing, software engineering, and research and development.
What must be done to convince people to believe in the power of AI and start working with AI?
AI can improve the quality and effectiveness of industrial functions. It can help make industrial processes more efficient, reduce costs and resource use, and even support sustainability outcomes.
For instance, AI-infused analytics can tell a plant manager what her operation will look like in a month’s time. Similarly, it can deliver almost accurate predictions about the remaining useful life of an asset.
But human insight will still be essential to conceptual and strategic decisions.
Such judgments may involve questions of inequality, bias, safety and security – but also determining where limited resources are best deployed.
For example, does a dataset accurately represent the real-world production process? Or could a change be made to operating procedures that can improve maintenance and greenhouse gas emissions?
AI optioneering will provide the best possible way to carry out each scenario, but the final decision often necessitates human input. Large language models can suggest the best strategy, but human experts will need to action them.
How does AI represent a profound shift in all aspects of business?
The technology has often been likened to the introduction of the internet. The comparison couldn’t be more apt. Some 5.3 billion people or about 66 per cent of the global population now has online access, about 30 years after its applications went mainstream, according to the ITU.
Globally, AI and automation technologies could boost productivity growth of up to 3.3 per cent through to 2040, according to McKinsey. That’s if people keep up with new developments, and there’s no reason not to. Some 12 million people will likely require up-skilling by 2030 in the US alone.
Just as we have jobs today that didn’t exist when the internet was invented, AI will transform career profiles. I believe we will ultimately see a net increase in overall jobs from AI technologies, including generative AI, but taking advantage of those opportunities requires each of us to adapt and grow. Hands-on learning is the best way to do so.
