Artificial intelligence revolution offers benefits and challenges

Australia could once again have a globally competitive manufacturing sector by using automation driven by artificial intelligence (AI). That's the view of University of Adelaide researchers who are aiming to play a major role in the development of AI which is poised to reshape the global economy, bringing challenges and opportunities. The authors of the latest Economic Issues paper--"The impact of AI on the future of work and workers"--published by the South Australian Centre for Economic Studies (SACES) and the Australian Institute of Machine Learning (AIML), both research centers at the University of Adelaide, maintain that AI "has reached a global tipping point and we need to plan for it." The authors, Professor Anton van den Hengel and Dr. Paul Dalby, Director and Business Development Manager, respectively, of the AIML, and SACES Research Associate, Dr. Andreas Cebulla, describe AI as "the automation of tasks normally requiring human intelligence." "AI has the potential to temper the impact of globalization which has seen industry leaving developed countries seeking lower cost manufacturing options offshore," the authors say.