Will AI change the world?

People are questioning the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as it is becoming more prominent in various businesses and industries and speculating how AI will drive changing in economy and society.

True Digital Park recently held “Corporate Club” talk series discussing on “AI: A real game changer for the economy and society.”

Today, AI is closer to us than ever before. AI may seem hugely complex and technical, but in fact, it’s close at hand, said Axelle Lemaire, Global Head of Terra Numerata platform at Roland Berger.

For example, smartphones, which almost everyone owns today, utilise AI technology. The AI we are talking about is AI in everyday life. There are some aspects, such as deep learning or Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), which are more complicated.

In today’s world, she said AI is used widely as technology is so much more accessible than it was in the past. Also, costs have declined and there are new operators entering the market, while current players have also expanded. AI has therefore flourished in this environment, allowing for synergies and the means to combine efforts to bring out the benefits of AI on a larger scale.

AI has also been increasingly used in broader fields. Ms. Lemaire elaborated that the private sector may use AI for services such as customer communications, the Internet of Things (IoT) in data collection and forecasting, as well as maintenance. The government, in contrast, may use AI to address problems associated with climate change, analyzing fluctuations in climate data, changes in maritime conditions, or in trying to prevent attacks.

“We can’t deny the many developments underway that are incorporating AI, including smart cities and smart mobility, among others. We have to realize that information should be shared with partners as well as competitors. In France, there are AI-related articles published every day and a high degree of public awareness about ethical issues and other impacts. It’s good that these issues are widely discussed. I have brought up issues about open data by default or public algorithms for the European Union (EU). Having a public debate with transparency is important.”

Thailand and France have much in common, she said. Both have limited experts and research in the field, and limited public awareness. The challenges that Thailand and France face may be different, but addressing the issues and ensuring continued discussions and debate will help each country find the answer.

“In governing AI, the important thing is who will design the parameters of the algorithms. AI governance is about providing the system with some balance as there are issues of ethics and accountability. Someone must take the lead by asking for cooperation to make AI open and transparent. The personal right of customers is also hugely important,” concluded Ms. Lemaire.

Ray Tan, Regional Sales Director at WeWork Southeast Asia, said that AI has immense potential including in voice recognition, text recognition, Natural Language Processing Algorithms (NLP AI), Machine Learning (ML), forecasting abilities by using stored databases, and in searching and connecting people as well as communities. AI can also be used to expand services and enhance business performance. As WeWork manages work spaces, the company utilises various AI capabilities, for example, in project management, by monitoring the progress of and reducing any redundant work. Even though AI is widely used in business it still cannot recreate the human experience, by connecting people, culture, and communities in ways that only humans can do.

On the importance of AI on finance and banking, Saran Ahuja Ph.D., Senior Data Scientist at SCB Abacus, noted that AI plays an important role like in credit assessment modeling, which helps to reduce costs and manage paperwork. Also, AI is used in analytics for business and service developments, which further helps find solutions for various customer needs. However, AI has limitations when it comes to data. Data collection from target groups is not easy. Another important point is that AI applications require a team from various fields, not just people in data science.