Eyes on Artificial Intelligence (AI)

by Raymond Chan, published in Casino Life Magazine (Issue 133, Volumn 15)

What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a collection of raw data using technology to make sense out of them, and have the tasks performed by an automated program or a machine that using the intelligence to accomplish the task. The technology can discover patterns that were hard to find and help us in planning, learning, reasoning, problem solving, knowledge representation, perception, motion, manipulation, social intelligence and creativity.

How does Artificial Intelligence (AI) work

The key to “create” Artificial Intelligence are the networks of interconnected layers of algorithms feeding data with each other, and trained to carry out specific tasks by modifying the importance attributed to input data as it passes between the layers.

For example, the systems are fed with a huge amounts of data, which has been annotated to highlight the features of interest. These might be photos labelled to indicate whether they contain a dog and once trained, the system can then apply these labels can to new data, for example to a dog in a photo that’s just been uploaded. Algorithms are also to identify patterns in data, looking for similarities that can be used to categorise that data. Google uses AI to group stories on similar topics each day, and in similar thoughts, gaming operators can group their interest data for better decision making.

An alternative theory in AI that worth mentioning for gaming is “reinforcement learning”. Simply say, it is an algorithm to “reward a pet with a treat when it performs a trick”. The algorithm attempts to maximize a reward by going through a process of trial and error until it arrives at the best possible outcome. Google DeepMind’s Deep Q-network is an example of this algorithm and beating human in a variety of classic video games.

Where to start for Gaming

AI can detect patterns in hacker attacks and provide predictive analysis for breaches before they occur. AI can also improve customer retention, engagement and support by predicting customer behaviour. AI also can play a crucial role in scheduling, predictive maintenance, thru maximizing efficiency. AI can tell immediately who comes into your properties and warn you for risks with very minimal equipment needed. Nowadays with the advance in internet technology, probably the easiest way for the industry to experiment with AI-related services is via the cloud. Most of the major tech firms offer various AI services should have web services that allow you to access AI-powered tools to minimize your investment on internal infrastructure. The possibility is unlimited and it will be up to the innovation and compliance department of the gaming operator to discover.

To protect and advance together, or to kill jobs?

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and esteemed physicist Stephen Hawking had warned that AI is a fundamental risk the existence of human civilization. I am not as “experience” as Mr. Musk or Mr. Hawking in any way, however, the possibility of AI to replace must of the modern manual labour is perhaps an irresistible truth for the near future. The only question is how rapidly and how profoundly the AI will alter the workplace and our industry (or I should say, “ANY” industry).

I started my coding career at the age of 12 in the 80s and witnessed as with every technological shift, new jobs will be created to replace those lost. What’s uncertain is whether the people are adopting the new skills fast enough to face challenge of changes to fill these emerging roles.

Also worth taking note is that the Chinese firms including Alibaba, Baidu, and Lenovo are investing heavily in AI in fields ranging from ecommerce to autonomous driving. With the favourable policies in technology-focused city like Shenzhen and Beijing, it is in progress to turn AI into a core industry for the country, one that will be worth 150 billion yuan ($22bn) by 2020. Macau as the world’s largest gaming city in China will definitely be benefit from the technology, potentially leading the innovation advance in the global trend for the industry.

Original article: https://issuu.com/peterwhite3/docs/casino_life_october_2019_high_res_v2/42