IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN SMART WATER A MISCONCEPTION?

摘要

ATi's Executive Director,Garry Tabor,discusses whether expectations have been set too high and what crucial foundations must be laid to make digitalisation a true success.For many companies in the water sector,collecting and analysing performance data in order to unlock operational insights is the driver of efficiency and innovation. Yet getting to the pot of gold at the end of the AI rainbow isn't as easy as some would want you to believe,with too many myths that are creating unrealistic expectations.AI is typically a platform that creates algorithms,but the water industry is not quite ready for the autonomous intelligence this requires - at best we are only at the stage of machine learning,pattern recognition and reproducibility. As all water specialists know,water is a complex and dynamic chemistry that is fluid and ever-changing. It is not a mathematical algorithm; it holds to the universal law of cause and effect. Moreover,there is also mother nature who often defies predictability. In a similar way to weather,water is inherently difficult to predict and manage by computers alone - whatever you put in needs to be interpreted by a data expert. Water companies cannot simply rely on the correct coding to monitor and measure water quality,and this is the first misconception of AI.