Week 1 - MBA 6101 - Surfing the Tsunami

The better data a business has, the more profitable it can be. Companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon, are powerful because they focus on data collection. But collecting data is not an easy task. It requires lots of effort for humans. That is why we should consider using artificial intelligence (AI). AI does not only collect data faster than humans but also generates, retrieves, and interprets data at a much faster pace and automatically (pp.7-10).   

AI currently has a big impact on most of the human technologies used nowadays. However, just a few machine-based technologies are automated. Automation is crucial for continue harnessing all the benefits that AI can give us. This can improve processes even more in all the areas of our lives, from hardware robots like bottling machines in factories, to software robots like Excel and Access. However, the most we can obtain from AI is probably machine learning. Machine learning is an advanced way for machines to process data, interpret it, and become more accurate without human programming – just as we humans do (Kelsey, 2018, pp. 11,16,18). 

There is a beautiful example in the YouTube channel Kimia Lab, in its video Machine Intelligence - Lecture 18 (Evolutionary Algorithms). The video shows a program that consisted of a being made of sticks (simulating bones,) unions between those sticks (similar to articulations,) and muscles that had two functions: expand and contract. The software was programmed to walk and use machine learning to improve walking through generations by taking the best model of various attempts each generation. The results were fascinating. The Machine was able to improve from a rough walking from the best model in generation 1 to a consistent and smooth way of walking forward of the best model in generation 211.

    ► Generation 1:

    ► The best model of generation 36:

    ► The best model of generation 151:

    

    ► The best model of generation 211

Think of all the ways AI and machine learning can be used in business. With AI and machine learning, there is no limit to imagination.

References

Kelsey, T. (2018). Surfing the Tsunami: An Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Options for Responding [Kindle version]. RGB Press. Kindle Edition.

Kimia Lab. (April 13, 2019). Machine Intelligence - Lecture 18 (Evolutionary Algorithms). Retrieved from https://youtu.be/3-NiZPbkr7A