IoT Insider Editor Kristian McCann speaks with Simon Trend, Chief Technology & Services Officer at Wireless Logic, on the pros, and cons, of AI’s growth and seeming inevitable integration into IoT.
Trend comes from a strong technical and senior commercial background with over 20 years’ experience in technology. Now, he is responsible for the innovation, development and support of the Wireless Logic business systems and applications.
It is this inkling for innovation that has led Trend to postulate on new technologies and fully try to grasp how they can, and can’t, be implemented into technologies like IoT. Therefore, when AI re-emerged after a hiatus from its initial buzz, Simon got to work.
Yet thinking of it further, Trend believes that AI isn’t just this one-way ticket to good times; its growth can yield an equal number of problems as it does solutions.
“I do see a positive future for AI,” says Trend. “But I think we as a society, as well as an industry, have to get to grips with some of the issues it is creating as well as embrace the technology.”
Trend points out to the fact that AI, as highlighted by the likes of Goldman Sachs, risks creating massive job losses worldwide as works becomes increasingly automated. When looking at it applied to industry, Trend believes the first real efficiencies and use of it will come through in transforming operations.
This is a key section where AI and IoT crossover becomes clearer. Smart manufacturing and industrial automation have long been of interest in the IoT sphere for having an apparent and more easily implemented form of IoT, as opposed to something more broader like smart cities. Predictive maintenance, targeted troubleshooting, all in the realm of IoT in industrial operations that could see assistance with the closer integration of AI.
Yet it’s not just a simple switch, as Trend tells IoT Unplugged: “when you bring AI and IoT technology together, however, the businesses behind that implementation need to think about the governance of it.”
In the podcast, Trend goes on to discuss other things associated with the greater implementation of the two, like the additional power needs of AI on IoT devices, the greater data consumption it generates, and any potential regulation on the terms of its use.
To hear more about IoT, AI and their crossovers, you can listen to IoT Insider’s podcast with Simon Trend on IoT Unplugged – available below, on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
AI and IoT: possibilities and pitfalls – IoT Unplugged
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