Intelligent Process Automation
while still applying some human rules, because we’re still living in a human world,” said Usal. “If you apply [those rules] with the new AI, you go faster, you deal with more data, and you’re more efficient and safer.”
Usal said that while AI helps to solve human problems, there needs to be more transparency in how AI is created in order to ensure that centralized companies don’t own all of the data and the power that is implied with it.
Mary Van Buren, president of the Canadian Construction Association, said that while the industry is still seen as being “old school,” it is employing AI in order to solve the problems of productivity and life-cycle management. One way is through 3D printing.
“In the Netherlands, they’ve actually printed concrete and steel bridges, which helps to reduce waste,” said Van Buren. “There’s also new software for building information modeling, and that allows people to collaborate on large projects with real-time information.”
Van Buren said that with data gathered by one system, like the new LRT system in Ottawa, it can help not only with maintenance, but can be used to improve other, similar systems. Van Buren says that with the industry entering a labour crunch while the government has made $180 million in infrastructure investments, there is an opportunity to use AI to help close the gap.
David Lametti, MP for LaSalle-Émard-Verdun, QC, and parliamentary secretary to the minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, said the government feels that it has a role in developing AI, which is why it’s working with private sector partners.
“We want to be a powerhouse, we want to invest and work with the kinds of partners at basic research and applied research in order to make that happen, and we have to create the normative frameworks – have the right privacy laws, security laws, and ensure that we can build trust in the system,” said Lametti. “And we can’t forget the ethical implications to ensure that we respect human beings in all of this, and not create a digital divide of AI haves and AI have-nots.”