AI for Business (1): Introduction into application of AI in businesses & Risks and benefits of AI



Books banner

1. Introduction

Happy Monday, everybody! Today we will begin with Digital Transformation classes, where you will learn the business application of Artificial Intelligence. AI brings numerous benefits to the companies by helping organizations to grow their revenue and work more efficiently. And this will be the focus of the week. By the end of today, we expect you to complete all the readings, watch all the videos and answer all the questions listed. It will help you to prepare for the final assignment.

If you have questions regarding the study material, you can send us an email or attend the Q&A session at the end of each self-study day. During the Q&A session, we will extensively discuss the independent study material. For details on availability see Project Brief.

Make sure to upload all the answers to the questions listed below to your GitHub account.

2. Introduction into application of AI in businesses

Artificial Intelligence is broadly used in business applications across almost all sectors and industries. AI can fulfil the tasks with far higher precision and speed than humans, transforming businesses in all kind of ways. So what is the future of businesses?

2a Watch the TEDx talk "Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Business" by Hans-Christian Boos.

2b Answer questions below:

  1. What accordingly Hans-Christian Boss makes AI powerful?
  2. What are the requirements for survival of business?
  3. What are the 3 types of AI?

2c Read the article by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew Mcaffe on The Business of Artificial Intelligence

2d Watch following videos. The videos provide concrete examples of AI applications by different companies and industries:

  1. Introducing Yandex.Rover delivery robot
  2. Meet ‘Iceman' and ‘Wolverine' — the 2 coolest robots in Tesla's factory
  3. Robotic Pets Are Helping Dementia Patients
  4. 7 MODERN AGRICULTURE ROBOTS THAT YOU NEED TO KNOW. UNIQUE ROBOTIC FARMING TECHNOLOGY
  5. Top 5 Most Advanced Army Robots: Tank Robots, Robot Dogs, Unmanned Vehicles, Military Robots

2e Read the introduction chapter of Artificial Intelligence in Practice: How 50 Successful Companies Used AI and Machine Learning to Solve Problems by Bernard Marr & Matt Ward (2019). After reading the chapter, answer the following questions:

  1. Why deep learning is thriving today?
  2. What are three key use cases for AI in business? Describe and explain.

3. Risks and benefits of AI


3a Read sub-chapters 1.4 and 1.5 of AIMA (p.45-52).

3b Find three newspaper articles on a risk associated with a sub-field of AI (e.g. computer vision, natural language processing, robotics etc.). Summarize the articles with a maximum of 200 words.

3c Watch the TEDx talk ‘The era of blind faith in big data must end' by Cathy O'Neill.

Video 1. TEDx talk ‘The era of blind faith in big data must end' by Cathy O'Neill

3d In the video she makes the following statement: ‘Algorithms are opinions embedded in code'. What do you think she means with this statement, and what are the possible implications that could arise from it? Explain your answer.

3e Provide a risk, benefit, and accompanying AI sub-field per organization listed in the table:

A. Organization B. AI sub-field C. Benefit D. Risk
1. Insurance company      
2. University      
3. Municipality      
4. Police      
5. Food retailer      
5. Car manufacturer      

4. Reflection and Q&A (16:00-17:00)

4a Ask question(s) related to the independent study material.

4b Choose, and provide an answer to at least of the following questions:

  1. What surprised you today, and why?
  2. What is the most important thing you learned today? Why do you think so?
  3. What do you want to learn more about, and why?
  4. When were you the most creative, and why do you think that is?
  5. What made you curious today? How does learning feel different when you are curious?
  6. When were you at your best today, and why?
  7. (Assuming we were studying the same thing and you could decide and have access to anything), where would you start tomorrow? Why?
  8. What can/should you do with what you know?
Tip: the exercise is format-free, meaning you can answer in any way or form you see suited. Make a drawing, write a piece of text, create a video, etc.

Literature

Brynjolfsson, E., & Mcafee A. (2017, June). How AI Fits into Your Data Science Team. (https://starlab-alliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/The-Business-of-Artificial-Intelligence.pdf)

Maar, B., Ward M. (2019). Artificial Intelligence in Practice. How 50 successful companies used artificial intelligence to solve problems. Wiley

Stuart, R., & Peter, N. Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach. 2021. Global Edition.