AI is in high gear and Australia needs to educate themselves before we lose out
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is still quite a new concept for most of us to comprehend, even though it has been around quite some time.
Apart from chatbots and your voice control assistance, we are only consumed by the anxiety of robots taking over our jobs and an amateur idea of what AI can do.
AI is not the Beyoncé of Coachella 2018, but it is like the famous enough artist featured right under the headliner artist on the same poster.
What I meant to say is that we all know what AI is on a pretty superficial level, but our understanding of its application may be quite low.
There is quite a difference when you do a quick google search on ‘rise of AI’ and ‘application of AI’, from ‘why you should not worry about AI taking over’ to ‘2018 is the year for AI’. That basically shows society’s view on AI and the future.
Heeding the advice that 2018 is AI’s big break, it is time for us to know more about AI, more than just Alexa’s random cackling like she’s laughing at your habits at home.
Aside from Elon’s Musk anxiety over AI, the industry is moving steadily upwards.
Big bucks are flowing into the industry; it is reportedly to become a $1.2 trillion industry by 2020.
China is banking on AI to become a $150 billion industry and seems to be trying to be at the forefront of AI.
Also, AI experts are said to earn more than a million, which only goes to show the value and thirst for this new knowledge.
If you’re not convinced yet, just look at the ABC’s dedicated section on AI, and you can see that it is a hot topic, articles like ‘Men face higher AI risk’ is a crowd pleaser.
Australia getting in the AI trend
Looking back locally, according to Startup Muster’s 2017 report, founders in the AI space has increased from 6.4 percent to 14.5 percent.
Australian artificial intelligence company Daisee recently announced it had raised AU$8.8 million in a Series A funding round led by Alium Capital, with Thorney Opportunities and other investors to help realise the opportunities for AI in companies around the country.
Daisee leverages the best in AI research from leading universities including Deakin University and University of New South Wales, to create software applications for companies across a variety of industries.
“Australia is at a tipping point on AI, and many companies are beginning to appreciate the competitive advantage to be gained from investing in real AI solutions,” CEO and co-founder Richard Kimber said.
Startups like Daisee is helping others implement AI and with the industry heading into high gear, they are becoming a vital part of this growth.
We caught up with Kimber to get his insights on what Aussie startups should be aware of and where AI is heading towards.
AI implementation in business is still a relatively new idea. Do you have any issues relaying exactly what it is to your client base?
There is a need for Australian businesses to be educated about the benefits of using AI. Companies in the local market seem to have a relatively poor understanding when it comes to reaping the rewards of AI solutions.
Australian businesses are falling behind their global peers in investing in, adopting, and experiencing the benefits of AI. Daisee’s research shows only 14% of Australian companies reported having adopted AI, compared with the global average of 23%.
What are some of the greatest improvements that Artificial Intelligence can bring to new and existing businesses? Is it difficult to ensure ROI?
AI can drive huge improvements in terms of efficiencies by automating repetitive tasks, reducing business costs and increasing revenues — all providing clear ROI.
If we correctly benchmark the right data points, ROI can be relatively simple to ensure, using Daisee’s predictive analytics function, one client of ours, a flower wholesaling business was able to increase its profitability by 38%.
Explained further below:
- The flower wholesaler needed better ways to forecast supply and demand. This was particularly challenging given the perishable nature of its products and the extreme volatility in demand (driven by events such as Valentine’s Day). Daisee helped to solve this issue by developing an AI system that allowed staff to order the right type and amount of flowers in the right place and time. We fed in historical point-of-sales data and augmented it with significant calendar events.
- The insights generated allowed rules to be created to make predictions about future purchases. This model was tested with three months of hold-out data, comparing losses from overstock/understock scenarios. AI prediction showed significantly better results than traditional Excel regression methods.
What is driving progress in AI and what do you think is the future of AI in the industry?
There are four main factors which have, and will, drive AI’s progress:
- Processor speed: now that the likes of Google and NVIDIA are developing processor chips specifically for the kind of maths processing required by data science and AI, Moore’s Law will become a key driver for the efficiency of AI algorithms as they process huge quantities of data in real time
- Algorithm efficiency: now that the processor speeds are available, the researchers and data scientists have made significant progress in the efficiency of the algorithms which drive AI applications
- Data: the availability of data has increased exponentially and will only be greater, especially in unstructured data like voice and social media. On the whole, data is badly structured for AI purposes, but that will change over time as companies start to understand the value of data itself and design products, processes and systems to collect and collate data in the right format and structure from the start
- Cloud: the introduction of cloud technology and propositions has provided almost infinite processor and storage capacity which can be utilised on an as-needed basis.
AI’s progress will also be driven by its future in the industry in that the applications for companies of all sizes and scope is enormous. As AI is increasingly applied to business problems and opportunities, the resulting investment will lead to still more algorithmic efficiency.
At present, AI is at the same stage as the internet in the late nineties, in that it is being applied to existing use cases to make existing products and processes more efficient. The true progress will come from the new products and business models which couldn’t exist without AI. That’s where we believe the future lies, and Daisee is here to build the kind of AI products and applications which will drive those new business models.
Have there been any obstacles in implementing AI into business?
The lack of understanding amongst business around how AI can help them is the major barrier to implementation. Linked to this, there is no budget for AI innovations in most companies, without this, the necessary investments cannot be made.
Companies are also currently structured in a way that makes it a challenge for AI to be implemented. Teams sit in silos, with the necessary talent separated by the department they sit in, i.e. marketing often does not communicate effectively with IT. This makes the necessary collaboration hard to action.
For businesses that do want to pursue AI, another issue is accessing quality data. We need data to train the AI tools that we’re implementing, without it the process is a lot tougher. Businesses need to understand the value of collecting high-quality data.
What’s next for Daisee?
We have some products in our pipeline. The first will be a Customer Service product which uses AI to turn any contact centre into the kind of customer experience which can positively impact a company’s brand. The product is codenamed Ekko and will enable our clients to guarantee 100% compliance with external or internal regulations, measure the customer experience on an individual basis and then train call centre agents according to individual training needs. We are also developing products in the medical imaging and architectural space, which gives you an idea of the breadth of opportunity we believe there to be for AI in business.
Not going to slow down
Seems like AI is not taking break, so better strap up and get on board or you might be losing out in the long run.
While controversies and anxiety surround this new technology, we have to remember that even with our past technological advancement, there was heaps of naysayers and Debbie Downers.
The unknown for the future usually cause us to be extra cautious and doubtful but being too cautious will affect the rate of progress.
So whether you’re team AI or not, the industry will still motor forward because the projected outcome seems like what our definition of the future is.
I’ll leave you with this cute ‘creature’ learning how to jump over a ball.
