From Artificial Intelligence to Augmented Intelligence

The use of artificial intelligence to process massive amounts of data in real time to analyze operations is considered a must-have for companies. Boards are pressuring CEOs to have a comprehensive digitalization strategy to take their companies into the future. Technology solutions are being adopted for their allure and hopes that additional novel uses will be found. These “solutions-looking-for-a-problem” are ultimately failing on the economic benefit test. Why are these projects getting to avoid the standard return on investment criteria that all other projects face? Fear of falling behind is not justification for dropping business sense. The ultimate goal of running a business is and should be to generate a profitable return.

Good ROI on big data / artificial intelligence is coming from those initiatives that have a problem to solve. In the process industry increased profits come from increased throughput, yield, and equipment availability without diminishing safety or the capital efficiency to achieve this higher production. This comes down to correctly answering the questions related these core areas and making the changes and investments to achieve maximum profitability. It is the use of artificial intelligence to augment the intelligence of the company’s personnel to make the right moves. Certainly automating the right moves is an ultimate goal. Automating is 20^thcentury…that can be done. Providing the insight to make the right moves is the promise of artificial intelligence.

This presentation looks at specific use cases where artificial intelligence and machine learning should be utilized to augment the intelligence of operations engineers and operators to enable profitability enhancement through increased throughput, yield and equipment availability.