Systems Design Professor Featured In Manufacturing Automation Article

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

Dr. Alexander Wong, the Canada Research Chair in the field of Artificial Intelligence and a professor in the Department of Systems Design Engineering, was featured in an article in Manufacturing Automation Magazine to discuss the potential impact and applications of AI in manufacturing.

One of the hottest topics at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos was the wave of automation expected from advances in artificial intelligence (AI), and the consequent displacement of workers. This anticipated realignment was depicted as good or bad news depending on who was speaking and who was listening.

“They [executives] see AI as a golden ticket to savings, perhaps by letting them whittle departments with thousands of workers down to just a few dozen,” wrote New York Times business columnist Kevin Roose, citing off-the-record interviews at the event.

Such dramatic scenarios make great headlines, but according to Michael Martin, the national IoT executive for IBM Canada, the emerging scenario, at least in manufacturing, is not about legions of intelligent robots taking over entire plants.

“At IBM, we view AI truly as an augmentation to the human worker,” says Martin. “We don’t see it as a total replacement of workers. That’s a big myth.”

Furthermore, the areas likely to have the most impact are not widely discussed, according to Dr. Alexander Wong, University of Waterloo engineering professor, Canada Research Chair in the area of artificial intelligence, and a founding member of the Waterloo Artificial Intelligence Institute. [Read more]