So for some the Augmented Intelligence its still sci-fi stuff probably landing on our shores in a decade or so. But to some us, the interest comes from the amount on billions being invested by major companies in the west. Why invest billions of dollars in non value addition activities?
Non value addition? Think again…there is plenty of value in this technology. The value is in reducing costs, making quick decisions in responding to changes in the environment and thus enhancing profitability. The bottom line is profitability…this is what drives capitalism…maximise, maximise wealth for shareholders.
So its dog eat dog in the corporate sector in the rush to implement cutting edge technologies and robots are coming in handy.
They practically work non stop unlike humans.
They process huge amounts of data quickly.
They are in most cases error free.
Imagine a robot working on a farm….non stop work, accurate..your productivity improves by more than 90%. The robots keep working irrespective of the weather conditions, they don’t go for lunch, they don’t sleep, they don’t complain about bad bosses…literally chikwambo chisina ropa lol
Customer Service and AI: Way back western companies used to employ receptionist who would answer phones, receive clients etc. Someone came up with an idea of transferring that role to call centres dotted across the globe…the model was very cheap…costs cuts, profitability increased! Then someone said hold on, we can get robots to do the work and save on costs. So call centres are on their way out.
Production: For most American manufacturing companies, they realised that China provided cheap labour. Instead of manufacturing products, they transferred their manufacturing plants to the East and this helped in lowering costs and improving profitability. However for geopolitical reasons, China has leapfrogged many developed countries and is poised to be number 1 in a few decades to come. This has ruffled many feathers and there is a reversal trend underway. Manufacture at home and use technology instead!
With disruptive forces at its peak the game is you snooze you lose. You have downtime and the opportunity cost is high. Machines work non stop unless there is a breakdown…they are replacing human beings in most manual and repetitive tasks. Take for instance auditing where a team of auditors can do manual voucher checks by sampling, manual trend analysis and checks.
Robots don’t need to sample…they do 100% sampling, provide analysis and produce audit reports better than human beings. So for audit companies interested in driving down costs and yet producing better results-robots come in handy!
Have you seen lawyers with heaps of books for reference on court cases? Reading manual books is a waste of time, robots can do that and produce accurate reports in record time.
Have you seen many shop attendants who want salaries, stock taking staff who need to be paid. Shops which close during certain times? In the digital age, no shop should be closed…we now have unmanned shops in USA. You go to the shop, you enter the shop and the shop has no attendants. You select products you want, take them to the till which is not manned….swipe and check out!
In Australia there is a big mine which is not manned. Robots do the mining, self driven trucks transport minerals to railway wagons and everything that takes place being monitored thousands of kilometres away. No humans at these busy mines where tens of cars are always in motion nonstop.
If you have been following the war in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries, then you should have seen fighter drones joining the battle front dropping bombs on identified targets.
What does the future hold?
Traditional manual processing tasks are on their way out. If its repetitive and its manual, consider it out. A teacher giving student notes? A book keeper? A receptionist? A driver? A mechanic? Everything that need our hands use is on its way out. Instead we are going to rely more on our creativity skills. A robot will produce financial statements but cannot use them for decision making. A computerised mine produces mineral output but cannot seek markets.
So we need to stay ahead of the game by appreciating AI and the skills that will be key in the AI era…managing technology to assist in decision making. Making faster, well researched decision making in order to tap into existing and emerging opportunities before competitors do. The driving force is profitability.
