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AI and machine learning will require retraining your entire organization

Wed, 26 Jun 2019 11:02:37 GMT

To successfully integrate AI and machine learning technologies, companies need to take a more holistic approach toward training their workforce.

In our recent surveys AI Adoption in the Enterprise and Machine Learning Adoption in the Enterprise, we found growing interest in AI technologies among companies across a variety of industries and geographic locations. Our findings align with other surveys and studies—in fact, a recent study by the World Intellectual Patent Office (WIPO) found that the surge in research in AI and machine learning (ML) has been accompanied by an even stronger growth in AI-related patent applications. Patents are one sign that companies are beginning to take these technologies very seriously.

Figure 1. A 2019 WIPO Studyshows an over six-fold increase in AI patent publications from 2006 to 2017. Image source: Ben Lorica.

When we asked what held back their adoption of AI technologies, respondents cited a few reasons, including some that pertained to culture, organization, and skills:
  • [23%] Company culture does not yet recognize needs for AI
  • [18%] Lack of skilled people / difficulting hiring the required roles
  • [17%] Difficulties in identifying appropriate business use cases

Implementing and incorporating AI and machine learning technologies will require retraining across an organization, not just technical teams. Recall that the rise of big data and data science necessitated a certain amount of retraining across an entire organization: technologists and analysts needed to familiarize themselves with new tools and architectures, but business experts and managers also needed to reorient their workflows to adjust to data-driven processes and data-intensive systems. AI and machine learning will require a similar holistic approach to training. Here are a few reasons why:

  • As noted from our survey, identifying appropriate business use cases remains an ongoing challenge. Domain experts and business owners need to develop an understanding of these technologies in order to be able to highlight areas where they are likely to make an impact within a company.
  • Members of an organization will need to understand—even at a high-level—the current state of AI and ML technologies so they know the strengths and limitations of these new tools. For instance, in the case of robotic process automation (RPA), it’s really the people closest to tasks (“bottoms up”) who can best identify areas where it is most suitable.
  • AI and machine learning depend on data (usually labeled training data for machine learning models), and in many instances, a certain amount of domain knowledge will be needed to assemble high-quality data.
  • Machine learning and AI involve end-to-end pipelines, so development/testing/integration will often cut across technical roles and technical teams.
  • AI and machine learning applications and solutions often interact with (or augment) users and domain experts, so UX/design remains critical.
  • Security, privacy, ethics, and other risk and compliance issues will increasingly require that companies set up cross-functional teams when they build AI and machine learning systems and products.

At our upcoming Artificial Intelligence conferences in San Joseand London, we have assembled a roster of two-day training sessions, tutorials, and presentations to help individuals (across job roles and functions) sharpen their skills and understanding of AI and machine learning. We return to San Jose with a two-day Business Summit designed specifically for executives, business leaders, and strategists. This Business Summit includes a popular two-day training— AI for Managers —and tutorials— Bringing AI into the enterprise and Design Thinking for AI —along with 12 executive briefings designed to provide in-depth overviews into important topics in AI. We are also debuting a new half-day tutorial that will be taught by Ira Cohen (Product management in the Machine Learning era), which given the growing importance of AI and ML, is one that every manager should consider attending.

We will also have our usual strong slate of technical training, tutorials, and talks. Here are some two-day training sessions and tutorials that I am excited about:

AI and ML are going to impact and permeate most aspects of a company’s operations, products, and services. To succeed in implementing and incorporating AI and machine learning technologies, companies need to take a more holistic approach toward retraining their workforces. This will be an ongoing endeavor as research results continue to be translated into practical systems that companies can use. Individuals will need to continue to learn new skills as technologies continue to evolve and because many areas of AI and ML are increasingly becoming democratized.

[A version of this post appears on the O'Reilly Radar.]

Related training and tutorial links: