Elon Musk’s comment that humans are underrated (Humans replace robots at flagging Tesla plant, 17 April) doesn’t come as much of a surprise, even though his company is at the forefront of the technological revolution. Across industries, CEOs are wrestling with the balance between humans and increasingly cost-effective and advanced robots and artificial intelligence. However, as Mr Musk has discovered, the complexity of getting a machine to cover every possibility results in a large web of interconnected elements that can overcomplicate the underlying problem. This is why so many organisations fail when they try to automate everything they do. Three key mistakes I see time and again in these situations are missing the data basics, applying the wrong strategy, and losing the human touch.
There are some clear cases where automation works well: low value, high repetition tasks or even complex ones where additional data will give a better outcome, for example, using medical-grade scanners on mechanical components to identify faults not visible to the human eye. But humans are better at reacting to unlikely, extreme, or unpredictable edge cases, for example being aware that a music festival has relocated and extra cider needs to go to stores near the new venue rather than the previous location.
Regardless of industry, it’s only by maintaining a human touch – thinking and seeing the bigger picture – that automation and AI can add the most value to businesses.
Deborah O’Neill
Partner, Oliver Wyman
• The House of Lords report (Cambridge Analytica scandal ‘highlights need for AI regulation’, theguardian.com, 16 March) outlining the UK’s potential to be a global leader in artificial intelligence – and its calls for governmental support of businesses in the field and education to equip people to work alongside AI in the jobs of the future – should be welcomed for two reasons. First, it recognises the potential of UK-based AI companies to benefit the economy. Supporting these fast-growing companies to ensure that they continue to scale – and eventually exit – here should be a strategic priority, particularly at a time when a new generation of fast-growth providers, such as Prowler.io and Benevolent AI in life sciences, and ThoughtRiver in legal tech, is emerging to build on an impressive track record of AI innovation in the UK, from Alan Turing to DeepMind.
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source http://news.statii.co.uk/artificial-intelligence-robots-and-a-human-touch/
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