As of 2023, from the manufacturing industry to the service industry, from medicine to the creative field, the use of AI is progressing in various fields and companies. Under such circumstances, isn’t there an increasing number of companies and people in charge who want to promote the introduction of AI in their own companies?
In this article, we will explain AI, what AI is good at, the disadvantages of introducing AI, and the steps to introduce it.
Table of Contents
A refresher on AI
Before thinking about introducing AI, let’s review AI. We will explain the etymology, definition, and mechanism of AI.
What is AI
AI (artificial intelligence) is an abbreviation for the word artificial intelligence, which is a combination of two words: artificial + intelligence. This is a field of research that makes computers perform functions that mimic human intellectual activities. By having AI learn from a huge amount of data, it can perform complex tasks faster and more accurately than humans, such as “selecting only apples from multiple fruit photos” and “distinguishing speakers and automatically writing meeting minutes”. can go to AI is pervasive all over the world, but the definition of AI varies depending on researchers and institutions. Although there is a common recognition that “it is an artificial reproduction of human intellectual behavior after taking in a lot of information”, a strict definition has not been established. The Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence (JSAI) defines AI as “a system that aims to accurately perform advanced inference on a large amount of knowledge data”.
How AI works
For AI to reproduce intelligent behavior like humans, a huge amount of data is required. There are several methods to make AI learn data, “supervised learning” to prepare teacher data, “unsupervised learning” to find correlations between data and grasp the characteristics and trends of data, and “unsupervised learning” There are various techniques such as “reinforcement learning” that allows you to perform a task by trial and error.
What AI is good at
AI’s specialty is finding patterns in large amounts of data and performing specific tasks at high speed. For example, it is possible to predict products that you may like based on your purchase history, such as online shopping recommendations, and to find signs of illness from large amounts of CT scans and MRI images in medical diagnostic imaging.
AI can beat masters in games that require logical thinking, such as chess and Go, thanks to AI learning a huge number of games, instantly analyzing the situation and choosing the best move. Because we can.
What AI is not good at
AI is good at calculations and games with correct answers, but it can be said that it is not good at things such as common sense and ethics, where the definition fluctuates depending on the case, and what has no clear correct answer. It can be said that creative activities such as creating 1 from 0 are also difficult with current AI. It is best to think of AI as a tool that assists human capabilities.
It is difficult to understand or “guess” human feelings
AI is good at analyzing huge amounts of data and extracting patterns and answers according to the model, but it is said that it is difficult to “empathize” and “guess emotions”. It is still possible to analyze emotions based on data, such as extracting positive/negative words from customer reviews and analyzing emotions. However, it is currently difficult for AI to analyze and understand complex non-verbal communication such as emotional judgment in context, tone of voice, facial expressions, and eye gaze.
Currently not good at creative work
Recently, there are many topics about AI in the creative field such as music and illustrations, but the AI art that can be seen now is output after learning existing illustrations and songs. As expressed by the word “creativity,” AI is not good at creative activities that create works outside of learning, such as creating 1 from 0.
What effects can be expected from the introduction of AI?
The introduction of AI into businesses and operations is expected to bring about a variety of effects. This section introduces an example of the effect expected from the introduction.
Predictions such as sales
By using AI, it is possible to predict sales in the retail and restaurant industries. By learning detailed data such as weather and seasons from past sales data, AI can find patterns and relationships from a large amount of information such as “sales do not increase on rainy days” and “sales increase on consecutive holidays”. Masu. By learning a large amount of data, it will be possible to predict how sales will change on days with similar conditions. If you predict that sales will not grow, you can reduce purchases, etc. By predicting sales, you can eliminate waste in operations.
Increase work efficiency
Effective use of AI will improve operational efficiency. First, AI can automate simple but time-consuming tasks such as data entry, email classification, and meeting transcription. In the case of a sales position, you can expect to increase the morale of employees and members by reducing the time for simple work, increasing the time for sales activities, and reducing unnecessary overtime.
AI can also be used to assist decision-making by loading large amounts of data into AI. AI can make objective decisions based on data, such as forecasting sales and market trends and estimating product sales.
Reduce costs
The introduction of AI can also reduce costs. If simple tasks can be automated with AI, not only can labor costs be reduced, but personnel and costs can be allocated to other tasks. In addition, by being able to predict sales, it is possible to minimize wasteful costs due to development costs and excess or shortage of inventory.
Disadvantages of introducing AI
The introduction of AI has both advantages and disadvantages. In any case, it is important to carefully consider whether the introduction of AI can be expected to have an effect.
Costly to implement
Although AI is convenient, it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that it costs money to introduce a large-scale system. If the business content is changed significantly, there is a possibility that the investment may exceed the expected reduction cost. It is necessary to have a solid forecast of how much effect can be expected for the cost to be paid and whether the return will exceed the cost.
In some cases, it may not be effective
It is possible that introducing AI simply because it “seems to be convenient” or “because I want to make things easier” may not produce the desired results. When introducing AI, it is important to carefully consider the steps described below and choose a service that can solve the problems faced by your company or organization.
Current status of AI introduction
The use of AI in Japan is progressing in various fields, but in terms of the use of digital technology in business, the AI introduction rate of companies is 24.3%. This figure is slightly lower than the 35.1% in the United States. (Source: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications 2020 Information and Communication White)
AI introduction steps
When considering the introduction of AI, it is important to proceed step by step, from identifying business issues to determining the scope of utilization and selecting the services to be introduced. This section introduces an example of steps to consider when considering AI introduction.
Extract business issues
First of all, when considering the introduction of AI, extract the issues in your work before starting. Whether there are inefficient operations such as “manpower is taken to input data”, “it takes time to create meeting minutes”, “techniques are handed down by word of mouth and manual creation is not progressing”, etc. Let’s raise any problems in the work, whether there is any work that is becoming standardized.
Determine the scope of AI utilization
Once you have finished extracting the issues in your business, let’s decide the scope of using AI. Many things require a large amount of money to introduce AI, and existing operations may change significantly. It is also important to set goals before deciding the scope of utilization. Regardless of the scope of the impact, think carefully about what will change by introducing AI and what specific effects will be achieved by introducing it, and set goals.
Selection of installation service
Let’s start selecting the service to use after extracting the issues and deciding the scope of utilization, instead of proceeding with the service. It is important to choose the one that is suitable for your company and the range of use, such as cost, effect, and support system.
Try to incorporate it into your business
Once you have selected the services to be introduced and are ready to introduce them, let’s incorporate them into your actual business. Instead of suddenly replacing all operations with AI within the scope of its utilization, we can avoid confusion at the work site by stepping up the process step by step and observing the situation.
Rotate the PDCA cycle
When introducing AI, it is important to be aware of the PDCA cycle. Once the operation is on track, let’s review the operation every two weeks to one month to see how well AI is being used to meet the set goals and whether there are any improvements or problems. It is important to determine whether to proceed with the introduction of AI in other operations or to consider promoting it once, within the scope of utilization that was first introduced.
Proceed with full-scale implementation if there are no problems
If there are no problems with the introduction of AI after turning the PDCA cycle, you may start considering whether to proceed with the introduction of AI in other operations. I will simplify it to some extent, but when introducing AI in other businesses, let’s decide the scope of AI utilization according to the issues of the business.
Points to be aware of when introducing AI
In some cases, the introduction of AI is expected to increase work efficiency and have many positive effects, but there are some points to be aware of. Here are two points to avoid failures in introducing AI so that you can expect an effect that is commensurate with the cost.
I can’t move forward with a vague purpose
“It seems better to introduce AI somehow”, “I don’t know the specific numbers, but I feel that it is inefficient, so I will introduce AI”. For example, it is dangerous to proceed with the introduction of AI without a clear purpose. AI introduction is not cheap, and if the introduction progresses, it will affect the actual business. As introduced in the introduction step, when introducing AI, think carefully about what kind of effect you want from the issues in your work.
Do not proceed with a large-scale introduction suddenly
When introducing AI, it is better to refrain from large-scale introduction that affects a wide area. If there are many changes in the work, not only will the site be confused, but the understanding of the site members other than the person in charge of promotion may be insufficient. If you gradually replace simple and labor-intensive tasks with AI, the understanding of AI will deepen throughout the company, and you will naturally understand how to use AI that suits your company.
It is also possible to proceed from a simple service introduction
When introducing AI, if you proceed with the introduction from a simple service, you will spend less time on consideration and selection, and you will be able to promote AI introduction speedily. Although it is simple, it takes time and effort to transcribe audio, such as creating minutes of meetings and online business negotiations, which take a lot of time and effort in actual work. Depending on the recording conditions, it may be difficult to hear, and the speed of writing may vary depending on typing speed and listening ability, which can be said to be inefficient.
AIGIJIROKU is easy to install, and you can automatically transcribe the audio by listening to the meeting. Faster and more accurate than manual transcription. Real-time translation is also available in 30 languages, and AI can also support the creation of summaries of meeting minutes.
summary
By introducing convenient AI, you can improve work efficiency and reduce costs, but when introducing it, it is important to carefully consider whether it is suitable for your company by taking steps. When introducing AI in your company, it is recommended to start with the introduction within the range where the effect is increased without affecting the business process. How about AIGIJIROKU to experience AI introduction without affecting actual business?
