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ENABLING AI IN BUSINESS Page
ENABLING AI IN BUSINESS
Can AI surmount technical and capacity constraints for large-scale adoption in business applications?
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Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the ability of machines to understand the world around them, learn and make decisions in a similar way to the human brain.
In recent years AI has broken out of science labs and technological discourses to enter almost every aspect of human activity. Not surprisingly, the business world too has been trying very hard to leverage AI to improve its profitability.
AI and Machine Learning have become integral to enterprise technological environments and generate value for most businesses. MIT Technology Review Insights shows that of 600 CIOs only 6 per cent or less say they don’t use AI in any of the seven core enterprise functions.
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As complicated as it may sound, we are already well on our way to making AI an essential component of our lives. AI-enabled programmes fall into two main categories; improving customer experience with smart products and services and improving business operations. It is used broadly for machine learning, cybersecurity, customer relationship management, internet searches and personal assistants.
Everyday applications like smart assistants (Siri and Alexa), customer service or help desk chatbots, facial recognition technology and algorithms used by Amazon and Netflix to generate personalized recommendations are a few that are AI-enabled. There has been an explosion of smart, AI-enabled products and services recently. The Roomba robot vacuums use AI to scan the room, pinpoint obstacles and determine how much hovering is needed based on the room size.
Social media providers have been leaders in the field of AI. Twitter is known to use AI to identify hate speech, fake news and illegal content and Instagram combats cyberbullying with the help of AI.
Robo-advisors are online financial advisors that use AI to deliver personalized financial advice. This represents a financial revolution which promises to open up financial planning to the masses.
AI has made inroads into business operations, including predictive maintenance, which helps companies repair or replace service parts and machinery at the optimum time before it breaks down. Dominos has begun a trial with Starship Technology’s automated delivery robots to deliver pizzas in Germany. IBM has another innovative application whereby its Chef Watson tool uses AI to help restaurants develop recipes and suggest innovative flavour combinations.
Machine learning in smart energy management systems collect a vast amount of data from sensors affixed to various assets. These data sets are then contextualised by ma-
chine-learning algorithms and delivered to your company’s decision-makers to better understand energy usage and maintenance demands.
AI has come to be used quite prominently in cybersecurity as AI systems can recognise a cyberattack, as well as other cyberthreats, by monitoring patterns from data input. Once a threat is detected, AI systems can backtrack through data to find the source and help prevent a future threat.
AI has already been used extensively in customer relationship management, which updates a normal CRM system and transforms it into a self-updating, auto-correcting system that stays on top of your relationship management.
AI has transformed Internet and data research by identifying patterns in people’s search behaviours and providing them with more relevant information regarding their circumstances.
At a more advanced business level, AI-enabled bots can be used as personal assistants to help manage emails, maintain your calendar and even provide recommendations for streamlining processes.
These bots have also been used as assistants to answer questions for customers who call or chat online. AI’S STUMBLING BLOCKS
Addressing shortcomings in companies’ data management and infrastructure, as well as internal structural, process rigidities and talent deficits, appear key to surmounting the challenges impeding the rapid adoption of AI.
Research from MIT sheds light on these and other data constraints that organisations must address to unleash AI’s potential for business transformation. It also identifies the investments and other measures, along with companies’ plans to align their data capabilities more closely with their AI ambitions.
Data tops the list as the biggest challenge for AI as most participants in the MIT research confirmed that unifying their data platform for analytics and AI is the biggest step in making AI a reality. Addressing multiple digital divides forms a key component of prioritising
AI IN BUSINESS
AI has been touted as the next big game changer in business as it impacts a range of applications including streamlining job processes and aggregating business data. AI has revolutionised digital technology out of the two-dimensional screen to bring it into the three-dimensional physical environment surrounding an individual.
Machine learning now forms a key part of AI’s input for business purposes. Machine learning is primarily used to quickly process large amounts of data by rapidly analysing the data as it comes in, and identifying patterns and anomalies.
Deep learning has arrived as an even more specific version of machine learning which is critical to performing more advanced functions such as fraud detection. Deep learning relies on neural networks to engage in what is now referred to as ‘nonlinear reasoning.’
Deep learning processes are also used to help self-driving cars analyse multiple information points, like the distance of other objects, the speed at which they are moving and a prediction of where they will be in 5-10 seconds. This information is processed to help a self-driving car decide when to change lanes.
AI has survived the initial hype with which it was born but commercial applications are still in the early stages of maturity. There are clear challenges concerning companies’ data management and infrastructure, internal structural and process rigidities and talent deficits. The need to improve processing speeds, governance, and quality of data, as well as its sufficiency for models, are clear imperatives if AI has to be scaled.
THE FUTURE OF AI
While it is hard to predict the future with AI, most experts see “commonsense” tasks becoming easier for computers to process. Robots are here to stay as they become increasingly applied to everyday life.
AI is expected to take digital technology out of the two-dimensional, screen-imprisoned form to which people have grown accustomed. The primary user interface may become the physical environment surrounding an individual.
These dramatic changes naturally determine whether machines will force humans out of work. The jury is still out as some experts vehemently deny that AI will automate so many jobs that millions of people find themselves unemployed. In contrast, other experts see it as a pressing problem.
A severe alteration to the workforce might seem unlikely, but broad trends are already visible. Some experts believe that, as AI is integrated into the workforce, it will create more jobs – at least in the short term. As we affect a transition towards AI-based systems, this will likely cause the economy to add jobs that facilitate the transition.
Indeed, this transition is likely to take many years if not decades – across different sectors of the workforce. Even as AI becomes a more integrated part of the workforce, it’s unlikely that all human jobs will disappear. Experts predict a workforce with more specialisation, and these roles will require a greater skill that robots haven’t yet picked up, like creativity, problem-solving and qualitative skills.
Essentially, there is likely to always be a need for people in the workforce, but their roles may shift as technology becomes more advanced. The demand for specific skills will shift, and many jobs will require a more advanced, technical skill set.
AI is clearly set to be a part of the future economy and society. As technology develops, there are bound to be new ideas, more start-ups, and numerous business applications and consumer uses, leading to the displacement of certain jobs and the creation of entirely new ones. It is a time for transformation!
Assessment
While AI has become a mainstream tool in some domains, such as customer interface applications, there are still significant hurdles to pass in data and capacity constraints before AI becomes an everyday tool.
There are already some reservations about AI replacing human jobs, but rather than serve as a replacement for human intelligence and ingenuity, artificial intelligence is generally seen as a supporting tool.
DOLLAR ON THE BALL?
The Dollar is riding a rising wave that is not-so-good news for the rest of the world.
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While doomsday pundits have been predicting the ultimate demise of the ‘greenback’ for years, the venerated Dollar has been outperforming most currencies in the recent past, reaching a 20-year high in July. It gained almost 20 per cent since last year against the basket of global currencies. On September 19th, the ICE US Dollar Index (DXY) stood at 109.5 against the euro, yen, and Pound.
After steadily climbing the graphs during 2021, it saw even better performance in the current year. From a low point of 94.63 in the middle of January, the Dollar rallied to 10.51 in early September.
The much-in-demand currency is on a roll. The Euro, which had always led the Dollar, has dipped below one Dollar for the first time. Aspiring replacements of the Dollar standing on the wings-yuan, yen etc. have all straggled behind the Dollar. The widespread sanctions targeting Russia have given further impetus to the demand for dollars with a rush to accumulate dollars as a haven.
WHAT IS PROPELLING THE $?
As the Dollar has been the bedrock of the global economy for almost a century, its value fluctuates with the ebb and flow of the American economy and the outlook for international investors.
The fundamentals of the economy (extremely strong and transparent in the case of the U.S.), technological factors (again a high point for the U.S., which has always based its wealth on high value, mass use technological innovations and now being threatened by China on this account) and the geopolitical situation (the Northern American continents is the most stable right now in comparison to Asia-Pacific and Europe), all add to make or break economies. In all these basics, the U.S. would rank very high.
Despite high inflation, the American economy has been doing much better than Europe, Asia Pacific and China. Energy crises have not impacted the U.S. economy as severely as Europe or Asia, courtesy of its massive investments in shale technology. The U.S. has fiercely held its position as a net energy exporter since 2019.
The U.S. Federal Reserve has been piling on the interest rates (four times this year alone, i.e. over 2.25 percentage points), attracting investors in hordes. Euro, the erstwhile supremo, has been struck down due to instability in Europe caused by the war and denial of cheap Russian oil and gas. Yen, too, has been impacted by rising energy prices and, as per experts, ‘loose monetary policies.’
As regards the Pound, the less said, the better; political vacuum, the rising cost of living, high energy prices and blowbacks of a BREXIT done in haste against unrealistic deadlines all have compounded to make the Pound slide down against other currencies. Germany, the European economic powerhouse, has seen a trade deficit for the first time since 1991.
The fundamental reason for the Dollar’s value to rise is the heavy demand for dollars in every corner of the globe. Individual citizens, foreign central banks and foreign financial institutions are all piling up on the dollar stocks, know-
ing its value as the world’s reserve currency in these uncertain times. Speculation plays a part as Northern America’s political and geopolitical stability gives punters confidence.
The rise of the Dollar brings misery to much of the world, especially the developing and emerging economies, which must pay for their import and energy bills in dollars. When the U.S. Fed raises interest rates and pulls the capital towards the U.S., emerging markets get squeezed for money. While India, with a healthy dollar reserve, managed to weather out the storm, Sri Lanka went under, and Pakistan is struggling to keep its nose above the rising water!
LURKING DANGERS
The Dollar is still not entirely out of the woods, and its resilience and primacy challenges remain.Experts continue to talk of an imminent recession that will be the hardest on the U.S., spending extravagantly for the last two years of the pandemic to revitalise all segments of its economy. Without these fears, the Dollar could have breached even higher levels.
While American tourists thronging in their thousands to European tourist magnets may be smiling as their travel plans have become cheaper, exporters are not pleased. More costly Dollar makes their products less competitive in an export market which has drastically shrunk since the pandemic. The European Central Bank is likely to raise interest rates soon, something it has refused to do for the last decade. However, economists call this move too little and too late and that this delay could slip the Eurozone into a recession, particularly given no improvement in the dire energy scenario.
As per The Economist, three conditions must be met for the Dollar to weaken. Firstly, the global growth gap must narrow as a downtrend in significant economies worldwide will only see the flight of capital to the U.S. The second condition would be the Fed reducing its interest rates considerably, thus weakening its support for the Dollar, which could be triggered if there is a sharp decline in prices in the U.S. . Third, good news in the rest of the world on the economic front could be not-so-good news for the Dollar, especially if the energy sector pressures dramatically ease.
Another threat to the Dollar is the increasing use of state-run digital currencies like the Chinese e -yuan, which has over 250 million users and may extend to international transactions on a commercial scale. India’s Unified Payment Interface (UPI) also creates shock waves, exhibiting powerful network effects. Over 120 million users are hooked on the UPI. While restricted to domestic use currently, they can easily be switched on for cross-border transactions as an option to the dollar-based system.
Cryptos offer another viable alternative. Their energy consumption is steadily coming down. The Ethereum blockchain has switched to a new mechanism called ‘proof of stake’, which has drastically reduced the energy demand, making it ideal for high volumes of money transactions worldwide.
A DISPUTED LEGACY
Amidst the blood and conflicts of Russian history, Gorbachev leaves behind a mark of peace and freedom, which is once more at threat in the region.
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Gorbachev has left behind a confusing legacy which has earned him accolades from the West while invoking disdain from his fellow countrymen. He is, in fact, seen as a genesis of the rise of Putin, whose policies are nearly directly in contrast to Gorbachev! Russian nationalists view him as a traitor because he oversaw the collapse of the Soviet Union. There are others who praise him for freeing Russia from the corrupt totalitarianism of the former Soviet bloc.
Born in Privolnoye, Stavropol Krai, to a poor peasant family of Russian and Ukrainian heritage, Gorbachev’s early years were under the rule of Joseph Stalin. He later joined the Communist Party, which then governed the Soviet Union as a one-party state. Armed with a law degree, he became a keen proponent of de-Stalinization reforms. His rise to power brought about many significant shifts in Russia, both within the country and in its relations with the West.
Gorbachev’s demise after a prolonged medical struggle at 92 raises important questions not only for Russia but for countries like India, who have maintained a strong relationship with the country. Gorbachev also had a dichotomous approach to economic reform. While he liberalised the Soviet economic and political system, he remained apprehensive about the capitalist market and the inadequacies it could inflict on the poor, more so in a society which had never known unemployment or private enterprise.
IDEAS FROM THE PAST
Gorbachev remains a controversial figure in Russian history. His funeral, which was not attended by the current President, is symbolic of the deep-seated emotions he raises. He is hailed for the relatively peaceful dismantlement of a highly militarised totalitarian regime with the world’s largest arsenal of nuclear weapons. His now familiar bywords of “glasnost” (openness) and “perestroika” (restructuring) are credited with dismantling totalitarianism, abolishing censorship, freeing hundreds of political prisoners, and upholding competitive elections that inaugurated a decade of democratisation.
The impact on civil society in Russia is perhaps a long-lasting restatement of his efforts, as the early years of perestroika witnessed a proliferation of informal groups. These small clubs of citizens engaged in associational life, which forms the essence of democratic politics.
Dismantling the USSR and ending the Cold War earned him many friends abroad as it dismissed the possibility of nuclear annihilation. Gorbachev even tried to dismantle one-party rule in the Soviet Union to bring it closer to a Western-style social democratic. The confusion it left behind was palpable as there remained an impossible balance between governing the complex country and its authoritarian roots.
The terms consensus and pluralism remain etched in common Russian vocabulary as Gorbachev’s introductions to the political discourse.
dismantling of nuclear missiles in the Soviet Union. He is known for his idea of “Europe whole and free”, and he even proposed to build “a common European home” that included the Soviet Union.
Germany, the collapse of the Berlin Wall and its reunification within NATO proved to be significant landmark moments in Gorbachev’s tenure. When he withdrew Soviet troops, it steered a new course for the Soviet Union and the world. It even led to a great controversy between Russia and NATO many years later. Gorbachev was recognised for his peace efforts in ending the East–West conflict with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.
A LOST LEGACY
Much of Gorbachev’s legacy remains in shambles at the moment in Russia. Vladimir Putin has set about destroying these achievements of democracy and civil liberties by mobilising militants behind a new totalitarian project.
Education and culture are strictly policed by the state once more. Prisons are overflowing with inmates, and Russia is locked in a potentially apocalyptic confrontation with the West once again! The collapse of the Soviet Union is narrated as a national calamity in Russian discourse now. Putin’s regime has made it a top priority to reinstate Russia as a superpower.
Public memory in Russia is not necessarily in favour of Mr Gorbachev. He is remembered in some former Soviet republics more as a repressor of pro-independence movements than as a liberator. His legacy is not often mired with chaos and criminality, which tainted the concept of democracy he advocated. Mr Putin is, in many ways, the product of this disillusionment with Gorbachev’s failed experiment with democracy. His attempts to restore authoritarianism with a neo-Soviet, nationalist inflexion have resulted in an assault on Ukraine.
Gorbachev was criticised even during his own time for being indecisive and delaying action. His governance style was criticised by domestic critics and even some Western partners. His economics stood out as peculiar, whereby he granted more autonomy and a share of profits to “the collectives” of state enterprises. At the same time, he did not allow private property and market reforms, fearing unemployment and inequality in the face of unrestrained capitalism.
In politics, it created large state structures which did not support a strong executive office which could replace the influence of the Communist party. He was blamed for ushering in Western influences too far, leading to chaos in a country which had thus far been ruled by authoritarian traditions.
Critics wanted him to use military and security services to hold the empire together, but the Soviet economic and social crises only grew as he refused to use force.
Gorbachev also had a dichotomous approach to economic reform. While he liberalised the Soviet economic and political system, he remained apprehensive about the capitalist market and the inadequacies it could inflict on the poor, more so in a society which had never known unemployment or private enterprise. It resulted in the dismantling of the old system without creating an active, viable market economy resulting in lower living standards and a drop-in economic activity. A bad economy, however, lost him votes, and he had to give way to Boris Yeltsin, who launched a campaign to assert the full sovereignty of Russia within the decentralised Soviet Union as a way out of “perestroika failure.”
INDIA AND GORBACHEV
Leaders from India and the erstwhile Soviet Union, Rajiv Gandhi and Mikhail Gorbachev, developed their relationship, which impacted their political fortunes in a similar fashion. Over a period of five years, many firsts, including military ties, economic bonds and strategic support, emerged to cement ties between the two countries.
As a soft touch, security concerns were used as a base for the development of issues such as food security, illiteracy and communalism, and environmental security. The festival of India in 1987 in the Soviet Union was a hallmark of this exchange.
The collapse of the Soviet Union saw a reset in India’s foreign policy. Aided by domestic liberalisation of the economy, India developed growing ties with the U.S. and other Western nations and, importantly, diversified its arms purchases. A tryst with Russia remains the cornerstone of India’s foreign policy, demonstrated by support from Putin for nuclear testing in 1998. This has been firmly reciprocated by India’s neutral stand in the aggression against Ukraine.
The Russian relationship continues to inform India’s geopolitical choices, as witnessed by India’s “neutral” stand. India has broken US-led western sanctions to trade for oil with Russia, calling for a ceasefire and diplomacy for a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
Assessment
Personalities clearly remain central in foreign policy, and Gorbachev worked out a mutually reinforcing relationship between India and Russia, the effects of which are still visible today.
While his legacy at home remains questionable and largely forgotten, his strengthening bonds with India have truly stood the test of time. As India navigates fresh waters in international affairs, the ties of history and its connection with Russia clearly withstand India’s position on Ukraine. History leaves us with important markers for the future, and Gorbachev is one such defining personality in India’s destiny.
DIGITAL CONTROL OVER MIGRATION
The flow of people across sovereign boundaries is being monitored and analysed by AI.
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In a progressively global world, innovative technologies provide better virtual connectedness. Simultaneously, globalisation has brought about an increase in physical connections through international migration. Artificial Intelligence (AI), one of the topmost cutting-edge technologies, has long promised to deliver on various fronts, ranging from population studies to ability enhancement. Now, it has entered the field of migration studies.
MANAGING THE FLOW
The rise of innovative technology and migration across borders has urged countries to rethink how they deal with immigration and other related issues. AI opens leeway for innovation in migration. Many nations worldwide have begun leveraging AI systems’ immense potential to mitigate crises aggravated by the ever-fluctuating and increasing migration changes ,and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Examples of its real-world applications currently in use include the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which uses it to monitor the movement of asylum seekers and refugees.
The UNHCR uses an AI-powered biometric matching engine to access documents and share them with organisations managing refugee flow. PRIMES, the system brings all the UNHCR’s digital registration, identity management and case management tools into one internally connected and interoperable ecosystem.
The New Zealand government is also using AI to improve border security and streamline immigration. Other examples of the use of AI include data scraping and biometric recognition tools implemented by the U.S. government to track (and eventually deport) undocumented migrants. Georgia and EU member states have tapped into many technologies ranging from blockchain technology and AI to keep an eye on migrants and their subsequent accommodation.
Blockchain technology, too, has entered the domain of migration management. Three EU Member States currently use Blockchain Technology for crisis management and have seen drastic changes in the ease of managing issues that spring up at the last minute. One of the redeeming qualities of Blockchain technology is that it generates a data structure with inherent qualities in security and management. It is based on the principles of decentralisation, consensus, and cryptography, which enables high levels of trust in the system.
Migration-ridden European countries such as Lithuania and Hungary have also incorporated highly evolved technologies such as automated 3D facial recognition and iris verification to speed up refugee incorporation into the country. The Tilde Speech Recognition System in Latvia has been revolutionary in identifying the voice of the migrants and uploading them into the database for further verification
purposes. It is currently under expansion to include the lesser-known languages in Europe into its database for broader applications.
In many countries in the EU, Artificial Intelligence has been applied in migration crisis management and food insecurity. The healthcare meltdown due to the pandemic could potentially help other countries upgrade their migration crisis management efforts.
Automated face verification has been one of the main fronts on which the Latvian government has been able to ramp up its operations in identity fraud detection. During the migration process, there are usually multiple cases of birth certificates being issued to foreign citizens without verified documents, using fake identities by utilising birth certificate copies. AI-enabled “chatbots” have been revolutionary in speeding up the integration of migrants, as they can simultaneously talk with customers on the migration crisis management portals. In Finland, the crisis management team utilises a “flow throughput estimator” backed by Artificial Intelligence to identify various bottlenecks in the migration process and assess the complexity of each migrant as they enter the system. It also has built-in capabilities to estimate the cost of rehabilitating each case at the time of entry after analysing the information.
CHALLENGES AHEAD
When using AI to delve into personal records of individuals, whether migrants or otherwise, a real concern is individual privacy and bias based on human prejudice. With tech giants eyeing the automation immigration organisations globally as lucrative big buck contracts, there is a push to set aside the genuine and perceived concerns of migrants and experts in this regard. After all, Big Tech does not want privacy activists to queer the pitch for big-ticket projects. Obviously, there is a great deal of money to be made in the business of migrants.
Although all EU Member States are bound by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, gross violations of these agreements are not uncommon. Countries increasingly relying on these emerging technologies run the risk of migrant privacy intrusions and accusations of unfairness and poor algorithmic accountability.
It has been reported that while designing and testing the tools that drive AI, migrants are often portrayed as security threats rather than as human beings with basic fundamental liberties and rights. Critics of the AI universe accuse governments and Big Tech of intruding into the private data of individual migrants taking advantage of lax regulations. Worse is feared, with the next step being remote tracking of migrants to control, deflect or block their flow. This is possible once governments create a narrative that establishes linkages between mass migration flows and national security. the case of UNHCR’s biometric recognition technology. The technology has an error rate of about 2-3 per cent, which could, in turn, affect a significant proportion of the migrant population.
COUNTER VIEW
Climate change, internal conflicts, food shortages and general mismanagement, even in countries well endowed with natural resources, are producing a rising tide of illegal migrants. These asylum seekers are desperately trying to knock down the gates of the prosperous U.S. through Mexico and the European mainland from North Africa. No country, however sympathetic to the plight of the refugees or prosperous enough to absorb their shock, can permit an unchecked influx of hordes into their society and economic infrastructure.
Over the last decade, we have observed how the ill-managed migration of refugees from entirely different social and cultural backgrounds has muddled the social scene in many well-managed European countries. Scenes of migrants battling police on the streets and indulging in arson and destruction have made such countries regret their generosity. AI and associated technologies will give such sympathetic hosts confidence that they know whom they invite as future citizens into their well-ordered societies and keep out malcontents and potential troublemakers.
The COVID-19 pandemic was an eye-opener for mankind and a catalyst for mass digitisation. Look at the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) growth in India, which has changed the face of money transactions. Today, even a street hawker can instantly receive or send money at the touch of a button, making the physical exchange of cash outmoded. Such emerging technologies continue to have the potential to transform not just the migration landscape but the way we traverse the globe.
Assessment
The inexorable march of technology cannot be stopped. What needs to be done is to temper it with regulations and monitoring protocols that mitigate their misuse, if not prevent it. Regulations being evolved for their management must be created through public debate and discussion. The common citizen, technical experts, privacy rights advocates, legal luminaries and tech companies must all be represented.
The fear is that with the richer countries racing ahead to adopt such technologies in the migration sphere, it could potentially deepen the digital and AI divide between the Global North and South. Technology in the hands of the rich and powerful should not become a weapon to discriminate against the poor and helpless.
