From amusing images to sophisticated data analysis, artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing our work processes. While some companies restrict employees' use of technologies like ChatGPT, others have fully embraced the AI evolution. Is AI the new Y2K? How can you harness this technology in the workplace to enhance your employees' productivity, making their tasks more manageable and teams more effective? As leaders in the field of AI for drones, we wanted to take a moment to touch on the topic of AI trends, how to cut through the noise, and identify effective uses of AI in your daily tasks at work.
Section 1: Navigating AI Trends
Real-Time Data Insights for Efficient Decision-Making
In the business world, making well-informed decisions has always been crucial. However, the pressure to make quick decisions can sometimes lead to mistakes. Enhancing the speed of data analysis allows organizations to make data-driven decisions even at a granular level. Marketers have long understood the power of real-time data; metrics in Google Analytics have powered both flash sales and short-term strategies. But real-time data ready for use is a newer breakthrough for other departments.
With the aid of AI in data processing, real-time data has become a tangible asset for various teams, spanning from procurement to security. A number of our clients have noted improvements in detailed decision-making, like tracking biomass volume for enhanced purchasing planning. This has allowed the purchasing team to reduce their dependence on fluctuating volume estimates and predictive metrics. Additionally, some clients have highlighted the use of predictive herd movement calculations, which have empowered park ranger teams to proactively implement preventative measures, preventing potential encounters with wild animals.
While our software provides this granular level of data, empowering teams to make real-time data-driven decisions, there are various ways you can enhance your team at work with other AI tools. The key is finding tools you believe are safe for your organization’s cyber security, align with your ethics, and enhance efficiency and not become an added problem.
Customizable AI Solutions for Your Industry’s Specific Challenges
Before implementing new AI-powered software within your team, it is crucial to pause and recognize the obstacles your team is encountering. Just like Richard Rumelt discusses in his book "Good Strategy - Bad Strategy," before devising a strategy to enhance your team, invest time in thoroughly examining your organization and team. Start by identifying challenges and diagnosing the issues at hand.
Consider a scenario where a sizable heat and power plant transitions to biomass. Due to its unstable nature, biomass introduces extra risks, necessitating increased maintenance and monitoring to safeguard the investment. These fresh hurdles compound an existing concern purchasers are familiar with - ensuring a consistent material supply without facing shortages or relying on external storage facilities.
This challenge could benefit from off-the-shelf AI-powered software that aids in data analysis, yet the challenge of real-time accurate updates persists. Organizations must decide the significance of enhancing their data quality for their financial success.
The same can be said for organizations working with wildlife. When it comes to researching animal migrations, herd numbers, and animal interaction with humans, AI can provide value on several different levels. From analyzing animal sounds to AI-powered traps. Again, several off-the-shelf solutions can be applied to make teams more robust, but bespoke solutions can also launch teams over hurdles, making some challenges a thing of the past.
In our work in Thailand, prior to partnering with the WWF, park rangers manually flew drones in the park to monitor elephants and activated sensors to alert them if elephants approached the park boundaries. However, these drone flights were ineffective and often produced minimal results. The last-minute attempts to deter elephants posed a significant risk to park rangers, leading to tragic incidents and fatalities. Although utilizing AI-triggered sensors and processing drone images with AI-powered software could have assisted the organization, they would still encounter similar challenges, albeit with fewer internal complications.
With Robotto’s core technology of AI-Detection and Vision Based Navigation, we worked together with park rangers to understand these internal complications and navigate how we could apply our tech to circumvent them entirely in the future. Here NatureTrackAI was born, giving park rangers the ability to detect elephants and track their movements in real-time, without having to manually pilot the drone and visually identify elephants from 80 meters up in the sky.
Section 2: Tips for Keeping Up with AI Trends
Continuous Learning
Introducing AI solutions to your company requires a particular mindset for success. This mindset mirrors that of startups and innovative organizations, which could be challenging for older, more traditional companies to embrace. Along with this shift in organizational culture, exploring and discovering new AI applications, testing them, and integrating them into the company all come with their own set of challenges.
AI has become a buzzword of late and many companies are marketing their solutions as powered by AI. To determine what suits your organization best, the initial step is to familiarize yourself with AI and become an expert in the field. So, what is AI?
At its core, AI is essentially basic statistical analysis. One of our AI experts at Robotto explained it as follows: imagine placing 100 people in a gym and showing them a picture of a bus. Then, you ask each person if the image is of a bus. After polling everyone in the gym, you can analyze the data statistically to determine whether the picture depicted a bus.
But AI can accomplish much more than simply determining what an image depicts. It can assist software in helping you by taking small inconsequential decisions out of your hands, helping you skip steps, and streamlining your processes.
Keeping an eye on trends
To transform your team into pioneers in adopting new technologies, it's crucial to stay updated on the latest tech trends. At Robotto, we dedicate 10 minutes each morning to reading an article from reputable publications. Although the benefits may not be immediate, cultivating a habit of daily learning provides employees with a solid grasp of industry advancements.
AI Publications
In addition to following these publications you can also adjust your social media feeds by following industry thought leaders and increase your network within the AI community.
Similar to other aspects of your business, networking within the realm of AI offers distinctive opportunities. Drawing insights from peers in your field consistently yields positive results, which is why conferences, professional networks, and expos play a significant role in corporate environments.
When focusing on networking for AI insights, consider incorporating the subject into your current network to gain industry-specific knowledge. Alternatively, explore AI-specific networks through lectures or academic institutions to discover the latest advancements in AI applications.
Unlike other new software your organization might onboard, AI comes with its own set of ethical concerns that stakeholders may have issues with. It’s important that your organization has a set of ethical guidelines and that you conduct research to ensure that your application follows these internal guidelines alongside GDPR rules.
Dipping your toe in the deep end
It can be daunting to simply go out and buy a new AI solution for your organization. One, if it’s truly cutting-edge, testimonials from other users might be nonexistent, and second, it might fail once in a while. That’s unfortunately just the way the cookie crumbles when it comes to being a first-mover in the space. Either you accept these caveats, choose to wait for the technology to be tried and tested give up hope of being a first-mover, or take the scenic route.
Much like a Sunday drive down the beach road, pilot projects can be a slow and sometimes boring process, but they give your organization the ability to not only tailor technology to your organization but also be a part of the testing process giving you the confidence you need to integrate the technology into your organization for regular use.
In the AI sector, numerous organizations are not only willing but also skilled at collaborating on pilot projects, making them highly cooperative partners. At Robotto, we have actively engaged in various pilot initiatives, including recent collaborations with WWF in Thailand and the ESA alongside a major heat and power plant in Copenhagen. Throughout these partnerships, we closely collaborated with end users, innovation officers, and other stakeholders to develop customized prototypes that met their specific organizational requirements.
While incorporating AI into the workplace presents a set of new challenges, the possibilities far outweigh these concerns, enabling organizations to boost productivity and efficiency. While exploring AI trends, it's clear that real-time data analysis and personalized AI solutions designed for industry-specific issues hold great promise in facilitating informed decision-making and surmounting challenges.
Staying in the loop with AI trends is like feeding rocket fuel to your organization's innovation engine. By encouraging a culture of exploration and innovation, companies can enable their teams to adopt new AI applications and adjust to changing industry environments.
Furthermore, weaving connections within the ethereal realms of the AI community and embarking on maiden voyages through pilot endeavors allow entities to harmonize with sages, unveil arcane technologies, and navigate the labyrinth of ethics. Though the path to entwining AI into the fabric of existence may be fraught with shadows and trials, embracing proactive participation in pilot quests unveils a celestial path to bespoke AI enchantments, guiding towards flourishing and triumph in this age of AI enchantment.