Asia’s economies are poised to benefit greatly from the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), according to MIT Technology Review

Asia’s economies are
poised to benefit greatly from the rise of artificial intelligence (AI),
according to MIT Technology Review

·         C-level executives across Asia believe
that AI and robotics will significantly increase the value and efficiency of
Asian business, as well as improve their own firms’ competitiveness.

·         Executives from process- or
technology-intensive sectors, such as retailing, ICT and manufacturing, are
most positive about AI’s impact on their sector. However, executives from
financial services believe that automated processes and machine-based
transactions will destroy value in their sector.

·         China, Korea, and Japan purchased
nearly half the world’s total output of articulated robots in 2015.

·         Most HR directors believe that the
adoption of AI and robotics will result in substantial job losses in Asia over
the next five years.

Singapore, 14 November 2016 – A new report released today by MIT Technology Review, “Asia’s AI
agenda”, finds that Asia’s economies are set to benefit
significantly from the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), but many believe
the adoption of AI and robotics will result in substantial job losses in Asia
over the next five years.

Technology
advancements will improve businesses competitiveness, but least benefit those
in the financial industry, as automated processes and machine-based
transactions are likely to destroy value in that sector (Figure 1). While most
HR directors believe that the adoption of AI and robotics will result in
substantial job losses in Asia over the next five years, HR professionals also
see opportunity for their own function to expand and oversee the management of
both human and machine productivity. 

AI’s rise will create a seismic shift in the processes that
senior managers use to manage talent, growth, and productivity across nearly
every industry sector. Asian businesses stand to leverage AI’s rise faster,
thanks to the virtuous cycle created by Asia’s technology investments and the
organic growth of big data. “The Asian academic scene is advancing quickly – what’s
more, entrepreneurs are returning from big companies in the U.S. to create
their own domestic ventures,” said Will Knight, Senior AI Editor at MIT
Technology Review.

Figure 1

C-level executives
surveyed and AI industry experts interviewed for Asia’s AI agenda are
largely aligned in the belief that AI and robotics will impact every industry
significantly, positively, and all at once. Rising investment in process
automation in Asian manufacturing tends to focus much of the industry’s
attention, given that three Asian countries alone — China, Korea, and Japan —
purchased nearly half the world’s total output of articulated robots in 2015.
But, importantly, survey respondents largely felt that most other sectors, from
retail to logistics, would benefit equally from AI technology. AI industry
executives believe that big data’s growth in Asia will allow autonomous and
intelligent applications to proliferate across almost all industries in the
region, more or less simultaneously.

Figure 2 

But according to the report,
while decision makers at Asian-based firms are convinced of AI’s benefits, most
have not yet committed resources to capitalize on these beliefs (Figure 2). In order to capitalize on today’s AI and automation trends,
Asian business leaders will need to adopt an attitude of extreme openness. This
should manifest through a willingness to collaborate in data analytics projects
and to share best practices and insight resulting from their own process
automation efforts. Moreover, while these technologies may have a powerful
impact on an individual firm’s competitiveness, the quest for competitive
advantage cannot blind business leaders to the greater benefits of collaboration
– in much the same way that competitive AI developers themselves are
increasingly pooling resources to accelerate their collective progress.

Download the full “Asia’s AI agenda” report at: http://mit-tr.co/ai-asia and join the
discussion on Twitter at #AsiaAI.