Understanding various trends in AI is important.
AI is undergoing remarkable technological innovation, and the importance of AI is increasing in every industry.
In fact, Nomura Research Institute has announced that 49% of existing jobs will be obsolete in the next 15 years.
Just knowing the latest trends in AI utilization in familiar industries will broaden the range of career choices.
Increasing need for AI in every industry
Worsening labor shortage
Currently, Japan faces a serious labor shortage.
In fact, according to a survey conducted by Teikoku Databank in April 2019, 50.3% of companies in Japan are short of full-time employees.
And it is said that the labor shortage will become even more serious in the future, and there are concerns that Japan’s national strength will decline in the future.
Utilizing AI to streamline operations
AI is the solution to such a serious labor shortage problem.
With the development of AI, it is now possible for machines to automatically extract feature values, which was previously thought to be possible only for humans, and it is now possible for machines to operate in the same way as humans.
Therefore, from now on, AI will be able to take over the work instead of people and make the work more efficient.
By supplementing the shortage of labor with AI, it is possible to solve the labor shortage.
Main technology is image recognition
Image recognition is often used in AI technology.
Image recognition is a technology that detects features from images and videos and recognizes objects.
It has a wide range of uses, and is used in everything from terminals such as smartphone apps and robots to the cloud.
As a machine with “eyes” like a human being, I think it will be possible to improve work efficiency like never before.
The ever-advancing AI industry
By 2030, the market size of the AI industry will reach 2.12 trillion yen!
The AI industry continues to advance.
In fact, according to the announcement by Fuji Chimera Research Institute, the market size of the AI industry will reach 2.12 trillion yen in 2030.
It can be said that the demand for AI in society is increasing.
And as the AI industry develops, the introduction of AI in society will advance and we will be able to realize a prosperous society.
How to catch trends in the AI industry
The AI industry is changing at a dizzying pace.
Technology that is cutting-edge today may be obsolete tomorrow, and it’s hard to keep up.
So, first of all, I will introduce a method for grasping trends in the AI industry.
Many AI-related events held
Many AI-related events are held in various places.
More specifically, AI/ Artificial Intelligence EXPO and AI/Business Automation Expo are big events where hundreds of AI-related companies gather from all over the country.
Each company exhibits its latest services and products in order to appeal to society.
It is very effective to see the current state of the AI industry, as you can grasp the latest technologies and applications related to AI at once.
Click here for articles on AI/ Artificial Intelligence EXPO and AI/Business Automation EXPO▼
An event called “Machine Learning 15minutes!” is held on the last Saturday of every month.
It is an event where various specialists engaged in machine learning projects will be on stage for 15 minutes per person.
Full of media specializing in AI
By watching AI-specialized media, you can grasp the information of the AI industry on a daily basis.
The feature is that all kinds of contents such as news articles, summary articles, and coverage articles are substantial.
In addition, since it can be viewed easily, it is ideal for collecting information during short breaks such as commuting hours and breaks.
AINOW, as a media specializing in AI, disseminates AI information every day.
We also distribute e-mail magazines, so please take a look.
It is important to always keep an eye on the industry
In order to keep up with trends in the rapidly changing AI industry, it is necessary to keep an eye on the industry at all times.
You need to be constantly learning, such as attending events and collecting information such as articles.
Just by knowing the latest AI situation, the range of solutions to internal issues and problems will be overwhelmingly widened.
7 Latest Trends in AI Utilization in Familiar Industries
Here are seven recent examples.
- Food industry｜Development of quality product discrimination system for raw materials
- Food industry | Adoption of quality judgment AI that inherits the technology of “connoisseur”
- Agricultural industry | Spread of self-driving tractors
- Agricultural industry | Appearance of AI drone that determines soil and sows seeds
- Medical industry | Use of endoscopic image analysis AI to detect colorectal cancer
- Logistics Industry | Utilization of Autonomous Collaborative Picking Robots
- Logistics industry | Introducing a hybrid truck that uses AI to predict gradients up to 100km ahead
I will explain each.
Food industry｜Development of quality product discrimination system for raw materials
Kewpie Corporation, which is familiar with food products such as mayonnaise, has been developing raw material inspection equipment using AI since 2016.
When performing inspections, it is common to let the device learn and distinguish defective products, but Kewpie has developed an inspection device that learns and distinguishes non-defective products.
This device has already been installed in a baby food factory and a delicatessen factory.
Furthermore, in 2020, Kewpie was adopted by the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) as part of the 2020 Innovation Creation Enhancement Research Promotion Project.
Research on AI-based inspection equipment is progressing further. In addition to making it possible to identify more than 40 types of raw materials, the theme is to detect the presence of foreign substances (insects) inside raw materials.
Food industry | Adoption of quality judgment AI that inherits the technology of “connoisseur”
It is said that the quality of tuna is judged by skilled craftsmen by looking at the tail part of the tuna.
This discerning technique is based on the intuition and experience of the past, and is an extremely sensory “tacit knowledge” possessed only by a limited number of people. Currently, the number of skilled workers is less than half of the heyday, and the outflow of skilled workers is progressing due to the lack of successors.
In response to this situation, we developed the AI ”TUNA SCOPE (R)” that instantly judges the quality of tuna.
By using deep learning to learn the discerning skills of veteran connoisseurs with 35 years of experience, in other words, skills that are difficult for connoisseurs themselves to verbalize, it is now possible to instantly judge the quality of tuna.
When we implemented the developed AI in a smartphone application and compared it with the quality judgment results by experienced craftsmen, the accuracy was 90%.
In March 2020, the export business using “TUNA SCOPE (R)” was adopted for the Fisheries Agency’s “FY2049 Fishery Products Export Expansion Cooperation Promotion Project”. Tuna that has been judged fairly by AI will be exported to countries around the world.
Agricultural industry | Spread of self-driving tractors
Kubota Corporation has developed an “Agrirobot Tractor” equipped with an autonomous driving function.
This is to improve the efficiency and precision of agricultural work, save labor, and reduce weight. The agrirobot tractor can automatically perform five tasks: tillage, puddling, fertilizer application, rough tillage, and seed sowing.
It also has a function to create the most efficient work route according to the shape of the field by entering the information necessary for work.
Obstacle detection lasers and sonar are installed on the front, back, left and right of the tractor, and automatic operation stops when an obstacle is approached.
In addition, automatic operation will be stopped even if it deviates from the field or work route on the map. With these functions, even unskilled workers can easily operate the system, which is expected to solve the problem of labor shortage.
Agricultural industry | Appearance of AI drone that determines soil and sows seeds
The aging of farmers and lack of successors are the current agricultural challenges.
OPTiM Co., Ltd. has developed seeding control technology that combines AI and drones.
This is for the reduction of wildlife damage and the labor saving of seeding work.
A drone shoots and analyzes the condition of the soil from above the field, and seeds are sown at the appropriate strength for each location, realizing permanent planting.
In addition, by using AI to analyze images of fields taken from above and the occurrence of pests and diseases, it is possible to apply pesticides and fertilizers with pinpoint accuracy, which can reduce the amount of pesticides used.
Medical industry | Use of endoscopic image analysis AI to detect colorectal cancer
Colorectal cancer is a common disease in Japan, and in the worst case, it can lead to death. However, early detection and resection can reduce the mortality rate, so it is important not to miss it during endoscopy.
The National Cancer Center (NCNC) and NEC Corporation jointly developed endoscope AI diagnostic support medical device software that utilizes AI, and was approved as a medical device in January 2021.
This software analyzes the images displayed during the inspection in real time. When a precancerous lesion in the large intestine or early-stage colon cancer is detected, a notification tone sounds and it is highlighted on the image to prevent colon cancer from being overlooked.
Logistics Industry | Utilization of Autonomous Collaborative Picking Robots
In recent years, with the development of mail-order sales using the Internet, the amount of work in logistics is steadily increasing.
Nippon Express Co., Ltd. has collaborated with Laputa Robotics Co., Ltd. since 2018 to introduce an autonomous mobile robot (AMR), and started full-scale operation in August 2020.
Even if AMR is installed in an existing warehouse, there is no need to change the layout or update material handling, and it can be introduced without interrupting on-site operations.
Here, when moving to the next item, the AI proposes a route to complete the picking in the shortest possible time.
This not only improves the efficiency of picking work, but can also be expected to have indirect effects such as making it easier for anyone to do the work and shortening the time required for worker training.
Logistics industry | Introducing a hybrid truck that uses AI to predict gradients up to 100km ahead
Until now, hybrid systems have been considered unsuitable for heavy-duty trucks because they often run on highways and do not start and stop frequently.
Hino Motors, Ltd. focused on the gradient of Japanese highways and the weight of heavy-duty trucks, and developed a hybrid heavy-duty truck using AI.
Based on this information, AI creates a rough scenario of battery usage.
On downhills, the large amount of kinetic energy due to the weight of the vehicle is converted into electricity to charge the large-capacity battery, and on level ground, the stored electricity is used by the motor alone.
summary
All kinds of industries such as medicine, manufacturing, and agriculture are about to be reborn as completely new forms by AI.
If AI develops and is used more than now, it will reduce the waste that humans have been responsible for until now, leading to improved operational efficiency.
AI can also solve the problem of labor shortage, which is becoming more serious in Japan.
