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>> Hello and welcome.
I'm Çağlayan Arkan, Global Lead for
the Manufacturing & Resources Industry at Microsoft.
I am very very excited about our topic today.
Recently, Microsoft launched a new book
The Future Computed: AI and Manufacturing,
which provides an in-depth look at how
artificial intelligence is
transforming the manufacturing industry.
With me here today is the book's author, Greg Shaw,
a prolific writer who co-authored Satya Nadella's
very successful Hit Refresh book, among many others.
Greg interviewed dozens of customers,
policymakers, labor representatives,
and other stakeholders from around the world to tell the story
behind the impact of AI on manufacturing and the workforce.
I am also incredibly pleased to have Nick Tsilas,
our Senior Attorney for manufacturing
and growth industries here at Microsoft.
Nick will talk to us today about
the ethical and regulatory considerations with AI.
Welcome to Digital Empowerment.
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>> Greg, let's first start with you.
The Future Computed: AI and Manufacturing is
the next book in Microsoft's Future Computed series,
which looks at the impact of AI on society.
Will you tell us why you decided to focus
this next installment on manufacturing specifically?
>> Well, yeah, first of all thank you for having me.
It was a lot of fun working on this book, doing the research.
Manufacturing, if you go back to
the very beginning of the industrial revolution 250 years ago,
which a lot of that was happening
in Northern England and in Scotland.
The invention of the steam engine which drove manufacturing for
centuries to come has always been a particular interest of mine,
a historical interest of mine.
So I know that manufacturing is always
going to be at the leading edge of how technology,
the latest technology is being used.
So much of what I see, though, are sort of case studies,
sort of case study by case study.
What I really wanted to do was not
only look at how manufacturing companies are
designing and implementing artificial intelligence
which we should sort of define a little bit,
it's the use of data, algorithms,
machine learning to do such things as preventative maintenance.
I wanted to really understand how companies are designing that and
I wanted to get to know the people behind that.
>> Essentially, there are six key learnings
or themes that came out of your conversations.
Can you walk us through each of these please?
>> Yeah. The first real finding is that as I mentioned earlier,
manufacturing is leading in
the design of of artificial intelligence.
I think when you look at these stories in the book,
you begin to see the people who are designing these,
they didn't begin as AI engineers,
often times they began as
engineers but they understand their factories,
they understand the data,
and necessity is behind all innovations,
and so these people have become leaders in their field.
There is this persistent concern about
will AI and digital transformation replace jobs?
Certainly, there will be disruption and there will
be need for transition.
Frequently, you have these one person that I interviewed said,
there's two conversations going on about the workforce.
One is a salon conversation
and the other is the factory floor conversation.
The salon conversation tends to be sort of
intellectualized into what's the future of capitalism.
But the factory floor conversation led
by many of these engineers that I talked with,
they care a lot about their workforce.
They're thinking many steps ahead
in terms of how do we get the skills,
how do we train this workforce.
If they're doing drudgery work now,
how do we get them into higher-skilled, higher value work.
The Future Computed series,
I'll just say the third one and maybe transition to Nick.
The third of these six is that future policies,
future regulations do need to be thought through.
>> Would you like to weigh in Nick?
>> Yeah, indeed. The customers and
policymakers that we spoke to as Greg mentioned,
were already thinking about the role of policy
and shaping the use of AI in manufacturing,
a few consistent themes emerged.
First theme is the importance of
a regulatory regime that fosters confidence in AI,
both by those who invest in AI technologies and those
who interact with the AI technologies.
The second theme that came up was
ensuring that there's equitable access to AI.
More importantly, access to the critical data that will fuel AI.
We know without data there is no AI, really.
The third theme is capacity building.
Capacity building for organizations to leverage AI, and for
workers who will be working
with AI to be trained on the new technologies.
The fourth theme is really about
collaborative approaches to the creation of new rules,
standards, and laws that balance
innovation with responsibility in the context of AI.
We know that all stakeholders need to come
together to develop these new rules and laws.
Lastly, encouraging the use of AI to create
a more environmentally sustainable supply chain.
This is important for manufacturers
and this is important for our planet.
>> And if I can just add on to that.
I think the other major finding of the book,
is that all of these changes,
the digital transformation requires cultural transformation.
Really in every interview that I had,
the leaders within these manufacturing companies said,
you really do have to spend as much time and
effort on bringing your workforce and your company
along to understand the truth behind the data,
to get their insights and their input into
how that data is best used.
To be transparent and
not to foist this on your workforce but to bring them along.
It'll be a stronger digital transformation
if you're changing the culture as well.
>> These are just brilliant points.
I think it is a very very important junction.
It's a historical point
that what we're going through is a transition.
Greg, as we close here,
what was the biggest surprise?
>> Well, it shouldn't have been a surprise,
I think most people including myself think
about the software that Microsoft makes.
But Microsoft makes Surface,
and Xbox, and controllers,
and a variety of pieces of hardware.
So Microsoft as a manufacturer has had to
develop some very interesting supply chain and AI technologies.
We have some offshore manufacturing that's going on,
and there was a real interesting case study for me to see how does
headquarters work with the factory to have
one source of truth in the data.
So that everyone's looking at
the same information and making the same decisions.
I thought it was also interesting and surprising how
Microsoft's AI and data is being used to
really have a terrific supply chain and
understanding that whether reported strikes;
a variety of factors can affect a shipment
that a retailer is looking for.
Becoming more precise and more prescriptive
with shipments and with manufacturing supply chain.
So I thought that was a really interesting story,
shouldn't been surprising but it was.
>> Well, actually it is surprising for most of my customers.
>> Yeah.
>> But I agree with you,
every customer that hears or
understands that perspective that Microsoft is a manufacturer,
and runs a pretty sophisticated supply chain and
uses data in a very powerful way,
wants to learn more.
>> Yes.
>> Yes. We make that available to every customer.
So I'd like to thank you both.
Both for the thought provoking discussion today as well as putting
a lot of effort into making the book happen.
It's going to be a vital resource for businesses as they
go through their AI journeys.
So I invite everyone to download
a free copy today. Thank you very much.
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