AI for growth and a competitive advantage – Tero Ojanperä

This article is a summary of Tero Ojanperä’s keynote speech at the Pinja Operational Excellence Days event. During his speech, Ojanperä discussed the use of artificial intelligence in the manufacturing industry, how it is changing the way we work, and how a company can use AI as an invaluable competitive advantage.

What can we learn from the past?

When we look back on the present 20 years from now, we’ll likely be living among services and approaches that we cannot even dream of today. History is full of cautionary tales: mobile phone giant Nokia didn’t react in time to the arrival of Android and iPhone, even though it probably had a chance. It’s a very similar story with artificial intelligence: the time to get on board is now!

What is all the hype really about?

It’s important to take a step back to understand where artificial intelligence is today. In the traditional sense, artificial intelligence is about analytical AI, which relies heavily on machine learning and deep learning. In these methods, AI is trained on data and used for classification and prediction. This basic technology is still key, but it is now being joined by generative AI, which is the target of broader interest. Generative AI, such as the well-known ChatGPT, uses large language models (LLM) as the engine of the AI. These models have been used to enable the generation of text and images in various ways.

If the goal is to be more productive, it is not worth inventing everything from scratch, because there are several ready-made language models.

With generative AI, harnessing the capabilities of AI has become easier and more accessible. This is good news for companies. New technologies have made AI accessible to everyone, and you can get started quickly with relatively low investment. It offers tremendous opportunities for innovation and competitive advantage.

Examples of how AI is changing the way we work

• Integrating language models into the machine base
  For example, machine logs can be analyzed with a suitable language model. Based on the logs, AI prepares procedures in plain language for the machine operator. The machine learning model reads the machine more effectively, and can predict failures.
  

• Changes to different factory robots
  In factories, robots know what to do when faced with something new by using different variations and deviations instead of going into error mode. The machine learning model learns from similar activities as long as it has seen the same activity in a video, for example.
  
  
• Extending creative design with text inputs
  AI brings new ideas to design, and produces them faster than humans. You can enter a design idea and develop it with different prompts. For example, a program created to design a chair is trained with CAD drawings. By improving the efficiency of design, experts become more productive and entry-level workers expand their skills.
  
  
• AI negotiates delivery agreements
  The AI is trained with data related to agreements. For example, is it possible to negotiate basic contracts with two AIs in the future?

How to gain competitive advantage with AI?

The answer is simple and easy to guess. The best results are achieved by adapting AI solutions to the needs of the company. This allows you to gain competitive advantage in a more diverse way.

Artificial intelligence allows you to perform activities faster and better, especially if the time saved is used for new types of work processes. The way companies can develop their products and services with AI breakthroughs creates entirely new opportunities to differentiate themselves on the marketplace.

If the goal is to be more productive, it is not worth inventing everything from scratch, because there are several ready-made language models. However, it is not worth staying at the experimental level – the use of artificial intelligence should be taken seriously and used to support the long-term development of operations. The key to differentiation is to develop your own AI, not just use off-the-shelf tools. An expert partner can help find the best ways to get started or select the right solutions for a company.

We conclude with three recommendations for the effective use of AI:

1. Educate the entire organization, and raise awareness among employees and customers. 
2. Ensure that the systems used support continuous learning and data management.
3. Remember to measure the success of AI projects. Many people forget the metrics and focus on developing projects, which can leave the benefits of AI in the dark.

The AI breakthrough is not sudden, but it’s slow – let’s all try to be part of it.

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