AI Applications That Affect Us All
An interview with Marc Lerchenmüller, Assistant Professor for Technological Innovation and Management Science, and Leo Schmallenbach, a habilitation candidate in the Subdepartment of Organization and Innovation, are researching the impact of AI on innovation together.
Credit: Konrad Gös/Felix Zeiffer
FORUM: What are the main applications of AI already being used today?
Lerchenmüller: Applications of AI in organizations include automating business processes, predicting market developments, and personalizing customer communications. Some of the most striking contributions of AI to date can be found in medical research and development. For instance, a team of researchers at Google’s AI firm DeepMind were able to predict almost all protein folding structures — something that was considered virtually impossible. Generally speaking, we can expect AI to save time and cut costs in medicine development and other areas of innovation by using computer-based simulations.
FORUM: What are the biggest challenges?
Schmallenbach: AI is a key enabling technology with great potential. To harness this potential, we need open access to the technology, which depends on two main factors: (1) technical infrastructure and (2) availability of the necessary human capital. In terms of technical infrastructure, factors such as processing capacity, energy needs, and access to large datasets are crucial to improving AI systems. Meanwhile, developing human capital requires forward-looking education that fosters AI literacy right from an early age. Both these things take time and involve significant costs. At the moment, only a few regions and organizations are in a position to contribute to AI development, while the Global South, which would especially benefit from AI for medical diagnostics and healthcare provision, is currently excluded. One key challenge is to democratize access to AI technology and the ability to shape its development.
FORUM: What will the future look like with AI?
Lerchenmüller: Experts expect a rebalancing of the world of work. There will still be many professions that need human intelligence. For instance, recent studies show that AI performs less well than humans at judging alternatives. In other areas, such as generating large numbers of possible solutions, AI is superior. So in the future, the focus will probably be on optimizing collaboration between human and artificial intelligence. Research has a key role to play. The Economist recently compared AI’s importance for science to the discovery of the telescope for astronomers, as AI will help researchers to more quickly identify connections in a sea of data. That ability is being used to benefit economic and social progress.
Text: Katja Bauer, Jule Leger/