Artificial Intelligence should absolutely be part of the strategic agenda in business

But Ulf Änggård, Director of AI initiatives at KTH Royal Institute of Technology’s Executive School in Stockholm, rejects such a grim vision of the future. While concerns about AI’s ethical implications and its impact on human labour should be taken seriously, Änggård suggests, AI itself also needs to be demystified. ‘Sure, we as a society must decide what we want machines to be able to do, what their objectives should be’, says Änggård. ‘That’s a discussion that needs to be had, but the conclusion certainly shouldn’t be to reject AI’.

And yes, as machines get more sophisticated, some jobs will disappear, Änggård continues. For instance, translators may become redundant once there are computers that can translate texts faster and more accurately than humans. ‘The same goes for bus drivers - we may not need them once we have self-driving vehicles’, says Änggård. But such changes do not happen overnight, rather, it is a question of gradual adaptation.

The overall trend among companies, according to Änggård, is to switch from business models that are centred around humans and supported by computers to the opposite, to models that are centred around computers and supported by humans. Änggård also singles out Text-to-Speech and Automatic Speech Recognition technologies as one of the AI trending right now.  Another big trend that have an impact on a wide range of businesses are chatbots, which allow companies to automate customer service centres. ‘In some cases, customers end up getting more direct answers from chatbots than they would by interacting with a human being. These bots are about intelligently understanding what the customer wants and giving feedback’, says Änggård.

So, how far did things go in Sweden, Änggård’s home turf? ‘Well, while many companies are trying out AI and want to explore it further - and imagine they understand the implications of the impact AI will have on them - I would say that not many Swedish companies have implemented AI that deep into their organisation.’

Änggård says companies like Spotify and Klarna are exceptions. They are built around a digitalised business model and can deliver services without any human interaction, like recommending a song or offering online payment solutions. These companies are making use of the ‘superpowers of AI’, says Änggård. But in traditional industries its use is still fairly limited, and that has a great deal to do with the fact that traditional companies are ‘sticking to the old way of working, which is centred around humans performing services, perhaps supported by data insights from an AI system’.

But on a more practical level, AI should absolutely be part of the strategic agenda in business, Änggård insists. ‘The core of any business should always be what it provides customers, what value it delivers. But AI will change how that value is delivered. AI systems can learn and adapt faster and they can provide more personal services than human beings can. It would be impossible for Spotify to employ a cadre of people to recommend each client what song they should listen to next or to compile individual playlists for each user.’ In other words, the power of AI is best harnessed where it can perform a service that is beyond human capabilities.

Ulf Änggård is Director of AI Initiatives at the KTH Executive School in Stockholm. He holds an MSc from KTH, the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. He has a long track record in business and hands-on skills in machine learning, having worked within the IT industry for most of his professional life.

Ulf Änggård is also a lecturer in the EIT Digital Professional School course Business Strategy and Artificial Intelligence.