ADIPEC Roundtable Whitepaper

HUMAN AND MACHINE COLLABORATION AND THE IMPACT
THIS HAS ON BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION
ROUNDTABLE HOST
Greg Cross
Artificial Intelligence
Pioneer,
Serial Entrepreneur,
Co-Founder & Chief
Business Officer
Soul Machines
In order to be successful, incumbent brands must remain interesting and
relevant to the consumers of the future. They need to represent the values
of today’s and future generations, and increasingly, this means a digitalised,
personalised customer experience-centred approach to business and a clear
environmental conscience.
Digitalisation is rapidly changing the workplace with the automation of
processes, loss of redundant functions and the creation of new roles along
the full value chain. Machine learning has existed for more than half a
century, but a lack of computing power limited its deployment. The advent
of cloud computing and deep learning have removed those limitations,
unleashing today’s digital revolution. New purely digital players are emerging
to challenge entrenched businesses.
Forward looking companies need to see beyond the current wave of
digitalisation and prepare for what comes next – a world in which artificial
intelligence (AI) assumes a much greater role and becomes more humanlike.
As business as normal ceases to be an option, companies that fail to
embrace disruption will be pushed aside by more agile entities. Digitalisation
and AI offer an opportunity for companies to completely reposition
themselves, to drive new economics and establish new business models.
The oil and gas industry is traditionally cautious and resistant to change, but
the energy transition presents an opportunity to think differently about what
digital transformation means and the role that exists for AI and automation.
The challenge lies in shifting from deterministic to probabilistic algorithms
and qualifying the safety of AI systems in a high risk industry.
Many people feel threatened by the prospect of an automated world and what this means for the labour
market. Digitalisation will certainly change the job market, it will remove some roles, but it will also create new
jobs and new industries. The value of human intuition and knowledge will always be needed, but AI can free
humans up from carrying out dangerous and mundane repetitive tasks.
Regulation of AI systems is an area that needs to be addressed by government and industry so that people feel
protected, both in terms of their safety and their data privacy. The topics of ethics, bias and explainable AI will
become major issues in the coming years, as companies are held to account for decisions taken by machines
and computer programmes.
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