In the era of intelligent automation, many manufacturers still perform visual quality checks "manually" because this task relies heavily on human experience and intuition. Machine learning represents a breakthrough in the automation of visual inspection, particularly in industries where products don't have specific standards in terms of shapes or dimensions. The food industry is a primary example of this. Luca meets the CEO and Co-founder of Viska Systems, David Moore, to talk about the role of machine learning in automating visual quality checks in a very cost-effective way. David and his team work with manufacturers to automate assembly lines' quality inspection by deploying machine learning solutions.

You can learn more about Viska Systems and their visual quality inspection tools at

www.viska.ie

www.robot-inspection.com

[email protected]

Does your company need AI? You don’t implement AI just for the sake of it. Instead, you do it if you have business needs which AI can address. AI strategist Andrew Burgess met with Luca to discuss how to make a case for an AI strategy. Andrew, also an author, helps companies understand their needs and priorities, what they can achieve with AI, how to build a roadmap, and structure an AI project.

In this interesting conversation, Luca and Andrew stress the importance of considering the risks connected with AI, particularly those deriving from biased datasets and the explainability of AI.

You can reach out to Andrew on his website, where you can also subscribe to his newsletter. 

What is Design Thinking? What are the challenges of applying Design Thinking to an AI project? Luca met with Padraig Coleman, founder of Innovation on Demand, a company which helps other companies develop tailored agile methodologies to learn more about Design Thinking. 

Paudie, who describes himself as "a builder without a hard hat", has been working with organisations in different fields for many years, helping them bridge the gap between business and technology. Because every project has two players: business and technology, and they speak two completely different languages. So, how can they understand each other? That's where Design Thinking enters the reckoning.

Paudie shared with us some of the tools he uses in his everyday work:

If you want to learn more about Design Thinking, here are a few book suggestions:

You can contact Paudie at [email protected].   

Is it worth it to invest in AI? What is the value that AI will bring to my company and to my customers?

These are the questions that all decision makers ask themselves when presented with the opportunity of implementing AI into their company.

In this episode of the Business of AI  Luca meets Ian Hogg, Founder and Chairman of British Cloud based solutions company Work Tech Group, to listen to his first hand experience of implementing AI into Cloud based companies.

Talking from a business perspective, Ian recounts the journey which culminated in the creation of Solvedby.ai and answers the question of how to understand if it is worth it for a company to invest in AI.

From the initial proof of concept, to the decision making process which led to buying some of the needed APIs from off the shelf and creating others internally, Ian provides practical advice on how to determine the value that AI can bring to your company and your customers.

Mining is often thought of as an old-fashioned industry, but there is much more to it than a bunch of people digging!

Last year digital mining solutions company Nerospec Sk launched the survey How digital is your mine? and found out that 70% of participants expect digitalisation in the mining field to grow exponentially over the next few years. In this episode Luca meets CEO and founder of Nerospec Sk Dr Eric Pohlmann, and together they discuss how AI has helped increase productivity and safety in remote, underground sites, where working conditions are often extreme. 

Eric explains how the use of AI and computer vision have provided mines with effective digital communication solutions and have helped identifying risk areas and creating efficient traffic light systems. The next frontier in terms of digitalisation in the mining industry is the implementation of automation and robotics, while the main barrier is the lack of understanding that technology will not replace humans, but will help miners performing dangerous and tedious tasks and will create new and more exciting jobs.

How has the relationship between academia and the corporate world changed over time? Have executives become more inclined to take risks in the name of Innovation?

Dr. Luca Marchesotti meets Innovation Lead Ron Healy, to find answers to these questions, consider effective ways to drive Innovation in SMEs and discuss the challenges of introducing AI into an organisation.

Ron, who has worked on Innovation both as an academic and a business leader in the USA and Europe, completely embraces the learning value of failure in the experimentation process and fosters the creation of a space where professionals can experiment without being afraid of a potential negative outcome.

Drawing on the example of disruptive platforms like Uber and Dropbox, he emphasises the importance of experimentation and underlines how Innovation doesn’t always require huge financial investments, but rather the ability to take calculated risks.

You can read Ron Healy's blog at http://ronhealy.wordpress.com and connect with him on Linkedin or by email at [email protected]. 

The question of how artificial intelligence and the evolution of technology at large affects creative industries concerns us all. As artists, creators, and consumers of media and the arts, how do we reconcile creativity with machine and technology? Are machines capable of human creativity?

Pen Densham, multiple academy nominated British-Canadian film & television producer, writer, and director is well placed to answer these questions in conversation with Dr. Luca Marchesotti, founder of Sparkd.ai. Together, they discuss Densham's extensive experience in the entertainment industry, from his early start, to his most notable works and the founding of the Trilogy Entertainment Group. Pen considers how AI has changed the entertainment industry and shares his thoughts about the future of the relationship between machines and human creativity.

Pen Densham: Riding the Alligator