With the launch of ChatGPT, the power of generative AI has captured public attention. Systems like this can not only work through millions of options, like earlier chess-playing supercomputers, but develop original ideas that might not occur to humans, used to working within proven traditional approaches.

New techniques of advanced information processing like this, promise to do much of the same work as humans in the blink of an eye. The challenge society now faces is to decide which tasks can be performed by machines, and which should be left to humans. For professional services firms, that will mean a change in working practices and billing. 

Darren Martin has spent his career bringing data-based solutions to complex problems. As an intern in clinical psychology at Toronto General Hospital, he used meta-analyses to identify the most effective therapies for patients with complex needs. In roles for the NHS and Child Support Agency, he implemented technological changes, but also focussed on reshaping working practices around the needs of service users. Today, as well as being the newly appointed CDO of AtkinsRéalis, he is a member of the World Economic Forum’s AI Governance Alliance.

He believes that we can make the best use of AI, when we focus on outcomes, not technology. AI might change the ways we work, and the ways professional services firms bill their clients. The use of AI, combined with human expert oversight, should allow these firms to share in outcomes, rather than billing by the hour. And by looking at outcomes, we can address the digital divide, and find new ways for AI to benefit all of humanity.

Guest

Darren Martin, CDO, AtkinsRéalis

Partner

AtkinsRéalis is one of the world’s most respected design, engineering and project management consultancies. Employing over 18,000 people across the UK, North America, Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific and Europe, AtkinsRéalis uses the latest technology to deliver major capital projects, and provide expert consultancy for clients across the energy, transportation and infrastructure sectors.

The post #267 AI and Humanity, with Darren Martin first appeared on Engineering Matters.