Fernando Alcoforado*
There are many definitions of artificial intelligence, but many of them are strongly aligned with the concept of creating computer programs or machines that can behave intelligently like humans. Artificial intelligence (AI) is the ability of a digital computer or computer-controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings. The term is often applied to systems development project equipped with the characteristic intellectual processes of humans, such as the ability to reason, discover meaning, generalize or learn from past experience.
In 1950, British computer scientist Alan Turing was already speculating about the emergence of thinking machines in his “Computing Machinery and Intelligence”, and scientist John McCarthy coined the term “artificial intelligence” in 1956. After some significant advances in the 1950s and 1960s, when artificial intelligence laboratories were set up at Stanford and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), it became clear that the task of creating such a machine would be more difficult than thought. Then came the so-called “artificial intelligence winter”, a period without major discoveries in this area and a sharp reduction in funding for its research.
In the 1990s, the artificial intelligence community set aside a logic-based approach, which involved creating rules to guide a computer how to act, adopting a statistical approach, using databases, and asking the machine to analyze it. them and solve problems on their own. Experts believe machine intelligence will match that of humans by 2050, thanks to a new era in their ability to learn. Computers are already beginning to assimilate information from collected data, just as children learn from the world around them. This means that we are creating machines that can teach themselves, play computer games – and be very good at them – and also to communicate by simulating human speech, as with smartphones and their virtual assistant systems.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is already being widely used in production systems. Artificial intelligence can replace human beings in production activities and also can maximize their productivity. According to data presented by Accenture in one of his research, by 2035, the IA will contribute to an increase of up to 40% of the productivity of the industrial sector, reducing costs and increasing manufacturing output around the globe. The current situation of AI systems allows them to understand the entire production and business process and automatically identify which key issues need to be addressed. A neural network of an AI system is able to analyze more than a billion data in a few seconds, an amazing tool to support a decision maker within a company, thus ensuring the best option among the possible. As the collected data is constantly updated, IA systems always update also its results, enabling managers to have access to latest information of variations in the company’s operating market.
Thanks to advances in artificial intelligence, the business world is facing huge transformations. It is a new era in which the fundamental rules governing the activities of organizations are being rewritten. Artificial intelligence systems not only mean automating many processes to make them more efficient. These AI systems are making the world go through a fundamental transition with machines developing beyond their historic role as tools by becoming “self-employed” but also enabling people and machines to act collaboratively differently. Consequently, AI systems are changing, so the true nature of the work that is demanding that the management of operations with machines and workers to be processed quite differently of the past.
Traditionally, automation has been used with specific tasks being performed separately by automated machines and workers. The specificity of tasks contemplated workers performing pre-determined activities inspecting the processes to discard defective parts. In contrast to the traditional assembly line, AI systems make it possible for machines and humans to work together collaboratively. Modern production systems use built-in sensors and sophisticated artificial intelligence algorithms. Unlike previous generations of industrial robotics that were bulky, unintelligent and in some cases dangerous pieces of machinery, the new types of intelligent robots are equipped with the ability to sense their environment, understand, act and learn thanks to learning software and other technologies related to artificial intelligence.
The new production systems make it possible to make the work process self-adaptive and create the conditions for joint work, teamwork, man-machine. Modernly, to fulfill custom orders and deal with fluctuations in demand of a production system, workers can share with robots the execution of new tasks without having to manually oversee any production process. Changes are processed automatically. Advances are not only occurring in industrial production. Artificial intelligence systems are present in numerous industries. The potential of artificial intelligence to transform large economic sectors is unprecedented in human history.
Modern production systems require workers to work with smart machines to explore what they do best. Workers are needed to develop, train and manage various artificial intelligence applications. By acting in this way, workers would be enabling production systems to operate as true partners. Smart machines, in turn, would help workers boost their productive capacity, such as their ability to process and analyze large amounts of data from a myriad of sources in real time. Smart machines increase human capacity. Smart machines and workers can be partners who collaborate with one another to raise their performance levels.
As production systems use smart machines, they need workers with training in intelligent software to be able to train and use collaborative robots, as well as software engineering (programs) and computer science. This means that education at all levels must be structured to prepare students for the world of work that demands workers with the necessary skills to deal with smart machines. All of this suggests that we are experiencing a transition that puts enormous strain on the economy and society. The education offered today to workers and students who are preparing to enter the labor market is likely to be ineffective. In other words, education systems are preparing workers for a world of work that is ceasing to exist.
The future of work in an Artificial Intelligence world requires the adoption of new measures aimed at the qualification of the workforce that should know how to use this technology as a tool to complement their skills. Some functions are assigned to intelligent machines and systems. New functions for humans emerge in the face of this new scenario. It is up to education system planners to identify the role of human beings in the working world in the future to bring about a broad revolution in teaching at all levels, including the qualification of teachers and the structuring of teaching units to prepare their students for a world of work. where people will have to deal with intelligent machines. In order to implement a new education, it is essential to begin to identify the skills needed for 21st century work and to adapt the obsolete education system to form more capable citizens for the era of artificial intelligence.
* Fernando Alcoforado, 79, awarded the medal of Engineering Merit of the CONFEA / CREA System, member of the Bahia Academy of Education, engineer and doctor in Territorial Planning and Regional Development by the University of Barcelona, university professor and consultant in the areas of strategic planning, business planning, regional planning and planning of energy systems, is author of the books Globalização (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC- O Brasil e a Nova (Des)ordem Mundial (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1998), Um Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2000), Os condicionantes do desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado. Universidade de Barcelona,http://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globalização e Desenvolvimento (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento do Século XVI ao Século XX e Objetivos Estratégicos na Era Contemporânea (EGBA, Salvador, 2008), The Necessary Conditions of the Economic and Social Development- The Case of the State of Bahia (VDM Verlag Dr. Müller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG, Saarbrücken, Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e Catástrofe Planetária (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2010), Amazônia Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e combate ao aquecimento global (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2011), Os Fatores Condicionantes do Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2012), Energia no Mundo e no Brasil- Energia e Mudança Climática Catastrófica no Século XXI (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2015), As Grandes Revoluções Científicas, Econômicas e Sociais que Mudaram o Mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2016), A Invenção de um novo Brasil (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2017), Esquerda x Direita e a sua convergência (Associação Baiana de Imprensa, Salvador, 2018, em co-autoria) and Como inventar o futuro para mudar o mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2019).
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