If artificial intelligence was personified as one of your co-workers, Rhode Island College professor Tim Henry says, it would right now rank as an intern – and not a particularly good one.
But if that intern is off to a stumbling start, Henry says, it will grow beyond its current capabilities with proper guidance.
“You have to be really specific” when working with AI, Henry said. “You can’t trust what it tells you. And [like interns], you have to give them feedback so the next time they do it, they do it better.”
Henry spoke on the second of two panel discussions at Providence Business News’ 2024 Cybersecurity, AI and Tech Summit, held the morning of Oct. 10 at the Crowne Plaza Providence-Warwick in Warwick.
The panel, titled “How AI can transform businesses in RI,” also included Christopher Parisi, president of marketing firm Trailblaze Inc. and vice chair of the state’s AI Task Force; Arnell Milhouse, co-founder and CEO at Providence AI startups SiliconXL and DevAccelerator Inc.; and Dori Albert, president of Lincoln-based technology consulting firm Spyglass MTG LLC.
Parisi has been a prominent proponent of AI adoption since the technology rapidly took off in late 2022, following the release of OpenAI’s demo version of ChatGPT. If properly harnessed, Parisi says, Rhode Island can lead a nationwide “AI Revolution,” just as it led the U.S. Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries.
But like the Industrial Revolution, an AI Revolution also comes with risks to workers’ well-being, and requires regulation – for this reason, Parisi lobbied the state for the creation of the AI-focused task force that he now leads.
That’s not to say that Parisi is calling for a gradual effort. Businesses that are reluctant to adopt this technology risk being left behind their higher-tech peers, he says.
“One year later, I think our panelists would agree the AI Revolution is raging ahead and not slowing down by any means, but it’s not enough,” Parisi said to the audience. “We can no longer just complain about what’s wrong with Rhode Island. Let’s do something about it and create that change that we so desperately need.”
Parisi also wants to see the state develop an AI Center of Excellence, workforce development initiatives and further invest in its AI Task Force. The state has made recent progress on the latter point, he noted. According to a spokesperson for Gov. Daniel J. McKee, the state will pay Dublin-based information technology firm Accenture PLC $74,980 to provide consulting services to the AI Task Force. A federal grant will cover this payment.
Summit attendees presented a mixed attitude on AI. When informally polled by Milhouse, about half of the room appeared to raise their hand to indicate they feel excited about the technology, while the remaining attendees found it anxiety-provoking.
Milhouse, an enthusiastic proponent of AI, joined Parisi in encouraging Rhode Islanders to leverage the technology.
But as it stands, Milhouse said, Rhode Island severely lags behind tech hubs such as Boston, Silicon Valley and New York City in its output of AI startups, with less than 30 companies that fall under this category currently operating in Rhode Island.
“At the end of the day, there’s only one measurable goal: How do we turn Rhode Island around?” Milhouse said. “Because we’re headed in the wrong direction.”
While acknowledging the risks associated with AI, Milhouse called for a less-restrictive approach to the technology’s rollout, arguing that “over-legislating” runs the risk of stifling innovation, particularly in AI’s early stages.
“We can’t take the brakes off, and we shouldn’t remove the gas pedal either,” Milhouse said. “We have to use them according to the terrain.”
Milhouse sees AI as having the potential to become “infinitely smarter” than humans and he anticipates a future where the technology will evolve to the point that people will use the software to develop a “digital twin” that mimics their thinking to assist in day-to-day tasks.
While Parisi and Milhouse spoke of AI’s aspirations, Henry and Albert focused more on its measured impacts so far.
Albert said her company finds AI useful for routine tasks and the technology is poised to help her business’s health care clients streamline menial, time-consuming responsibilities such as searching through thousands of pages of medical records.
While Albert says that all workers will be impacted by AI, those who oversee these “paper-based” tasks will see the most immediate effects.
But like Henry, she emphasized the need for human oversight of AI even in smaller tasks.
“You can’t trust what comes out,” Albert said. “You have to go through and add your own thoughts and voice onto anything. [It’s the] same with code. It’s getting better and better … but you have to have human intervention. What we need to do as workers is learn how to work with AI so that we all become more productive.”
Henry stressed the need for educators to emphasize critical thinking skills when teaching students about AI.
“You have to get that balance between critical thinking and soft skills … along with the AI support,” he said.
