Johannesburg, 06 Jun 2018
Many organisations are looking to artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and robotics to reduce operational costs, increase efficiency, grow revenue, boost security and improve the customer experience.
However, many businesses don't know where to start. With this in mind, the ITWeb Meeting of Minds: Artificial Intelligence 2018 event is hosting two workshops to be held on 2 August, at The Forum, in Bryanston.
Responsible robotics
The first workshop, 'Responsible robotics; what is it and who cares', will be facilitated by Dr Aimee van Wynsberghe, assistant professor of ethics and technology at TU Delft (Netherlands) and president of the Foundation for Responsible Robotics.
As the design and development of robotics persists the need for regulation and policy to temper the risk of negative consequences will increase. This first workshop will look at the balancing of two sets of values: societal values of privacy, transparency, and security with the values guiding the industry sector; economics and innovation.
According to van Wynsberghe, for robotics development to be done in a responsible way we have to consider what this would look like.
"We could do nothing and allow industry to set the course, or apply regulation that fails to meet the speed at which technology develops. For the former, current scandals show us what it looks like when we leave societal values in the stewardship of companies, competing with economics. For the latter, we risk stifling innovation by placing regulatory demands on companies. Instead an innovative middle ground is needed that protects the consumer without stifling innovation."
This middle ground is responsible robotics and this workshop will explore its course.
Delegates attending this workshop will gain an understanding of the current global challenge of regulating robotics and AI, and will learn to identify the various approaches for AI and robotics regulation and/or governance. Finally, they will investigate the concept of responsible robotics and AI as a solution.
BI and AI
The second workshop, 'Will BI become AI, and how and when?' will be facilitated by Dr Barry Devlin, founder and principal of 9sight Consulting.
According to Devlin, BI has consistently topped the list of CIO priorities for the past dozen years, due to the fact that information-informed decision-making has long been seen as the foundation for solving problems, optimising operations, and exploiting opportunities, and it still is.
However, with AI in a multiplicity of guises, grabbing the public and corporate imagination without apparent limits, the industry is wondering whether AI will displace BI on the CIO priority list. According to Devlin, the short answer is both yes and no, because AI is becoming the foundation for multiple IT initiatives, and none more so than decision-making support.
In this workshop, Devlin, one of the founders of the data warehousing and BI industry, explores how AI will be embedded in all areas of BI, how it will reinvent many aspects of decision-making, and how it will fundamentally disrupt how business people make decisions and take action, based (or not) on information.
Delegates attending Devlin's course will learn about decision-making in business, the myths and realities. They will also explore data, information, knowledge and meaning, and their basis for machine learning.
In addition, they will learn how AI is being embedded today in all areas of BI processes, and will hear about decision-making by people versus decision-making by algorithms.
Finally they will explore the reach of AI in decision-making, augmentation vs automation, and will learn more about the ethical and economic considerations of AI-based decision-making for business and beyond.