Introduction to Artificial Intelligence in Safety - Safely mixing real intelligence with artificial intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Safety – is it real?  Is my tech group faking intelligence or could they be onto something?

What is AI?: AI, or artificial intelligence, refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think and learn.

There are three types of AI::

1.     Where we are at today is called Weak or Narrow AI. This is designed for specific tasks.  These systems are limited to their programmed functions.  It may look intelligent – but it is just great programmer coding. 

Think of things like Virtual Assistants (Siri, Alexa, and Google maps).  Recommendation Systems used by Netflix and Amazon and Image Recognition.  It can perform tasks like setting reminders, answering questions or understanding user preferences and then suggest things based on past behaviors. 

For some ideas on how this could work on the safety side – Think movement or lack of movement - AI could recognize when a person has entered an area of danger near a forklift, that someone has not yet left a burning building, for animal collision avoidance, for identifying if someone has removed/bypassed a safety guard on equipment or even jobsite facial recognition for security or time tracking.  This could help save a life or provide evidence in court.

2.     Strong/General AI aims to understand, reason and adapt.  Research is ongoing, but achieving this level of intelligence poses significant technical and ethical challenges from healthcare to entertainment. General AI can create images and paintings that seam real.

We aren’t here yet, but we are trying to get here fast - On the safety side, AI could model incident potential and suggest avoidance measures based on your specific companies’ activities.  If you have forklifts, cutting machines, combustibles or even chemicals onsite.  All prior incidents or possible incidents could be taken into account to analyze where your company may have weakness in processes and procedures that you don’t even know about (like possible mixed chemical reactions that happen accidently but cause significant health or safety issues, and then recommending storing them in different spaces) or even predicting that someone will enter an unsafe area or doesn’t belong.

3.     Superintelligence – this is FINAL level and is currently reserved for Hollywood sci-fi (Terminator type) movies. 

How does “CHATGPT” work…You may want to try it right now.  Go to Chatgpt.com (stay “logged out” when it asks you).  In the box that says “Message Chat GPT” type in something like “write an employee performance review, sales”…and be amazed.  You can try this for writing a number of things – acceptance letter, termination letter, funeral speech, birthday wishes, drafting safety policies, cool party tricks, or even a blog speech on what AI is.   

The current rapid rise in AI comes because things have been changed in our world.  First came the internet and now we have added:

a.       Big Data (so much digital content being created from blogs to chat – volume, speed and variety),

b.      Cloud Computing (using the internet to store and access data instead of local servers), and

c.       Advanced Algorithms (programs that learn from data by finding patterns, automating tasks and improving decision making).

Conclusion:  AI usage is growing faster every day.  Now is the best time to get started by doing a little research.  Understand where it is at, where it could go, and how that could impact you in the not-so-distant future more than it already is in the world of safety.  You can fear AI or embrace it ... but either way it is coming.  Maybe you are counting on retiring before it impacts you - but that is not the greatest planning. On the positive side - just imagine off-loading all of your mundane tasks leaving you more time for the more interesting ones.

The Plug - In the world of AI it all starts with having good data.  One way to off-load a lot of mundane tasks and start down a digital path is to use Workhub’s simple, all-inclusive $4 per user per month Compliance management software.  Our customer support team is always available to help and its always free to book a demo at www.Workhub.com.

This is the first article of a five-part series on Safely mixing real intelligence with artificial intelligence. You can find the rest of the series at our website under “blog”.

Part 1: Introduction to AI in Safety

Part 2: How AI Works in Safety

Part 3: Ethical Considerations in AI, not just in Safety

Part 4: AI in the Workplace Safety Program

Part 5: The Future of AI in Safety