Hansard

I am pleased to be able to speak about such a fascinating topic once again, having led a members’ business debate early last year on artificial intelligence. At that time I spoke about concerns that Al technology

“will destroy jobs and, indeed, entire industries faster than it creates them”,

and, in some sectors, would enable a few companies to have a monopoly over the market by harnessing this new technology. That concern is still very much alive. Japan’s Henn na Hotel is almost entirely run by robots. A law firm in Chicago has an AI legal assistant named Ross who deals with bankruptcy cases and gets smarter with every case he deals with. Some Swedish and Italian care homes have now had their healthcare staff replaced by robots. Strong ethics and governance are crucial: we have heard reports that in China, facial recognition technology is being used to oppress the Uighur population, with shades of “1984”.

Can it really be that bad? Is every job now at risk, including blue-collar jobs and those of healthcare professionals and lawyers? With Stanford University developing an algorithm that can identify thousands of features from pathology images of lung cancer tissue, and casinos using Al rather than people to detect play and betting fraud, it is easy to agree with those who say that Al is already delivering a major shift in how people live their lives. To an extent, they are right; it is the beginning of a huge change to what we traditionally call work, but maybe it is time for Scotland to rethink what work is. We hear a lot these days about data-driven innovation, but what is it? It is very easy for experts to throw around these buzz-words, but when it comes to artificial intelligence, it is important to be clear. Data-driven innovation is reflective of the rising importance of data in economic growth, public services and social change. High-speed data analytics are used to capture and understand data trends, which brings, according to the University of Edinburgh,

“a better and faster capability to identify trends and behaviour across many sectors, leading to improved services for customers and citizens”.

That brings me to the data-driven innovation initiative. That fantastic initiative, based in Edinburgh and south-east Scotland, is being implemented over 10 years by experts from the University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt University. Their experts will collaborate on projects in the public, private and third sectors whose benefits will potentially be huge. Not only will there be opportunities for an increase in the contribution of university research and much sought-after graduate skills to regional economies; there will be the opportunity for jobs to be created through the launch of spin-off companies. Start-ups and established businesses alike will be attracted to Scotland and public and private sector investment will be driven up as a result, which can only be good for Scotland. Although there are still understandable concerns that the advent of Al will mean the net loss of jobs and the robotisation of the jobs that are left, this new technology can and will create and sustain jobs in other sectors of the economy.

The number of people employed in some sectors will undoubtedly contract, as happened during the agricultural and industrial revolutions—as always happens with technological change—yet it is likely that more jobs will be created and that those will be more highly skilled and better paid.

In 2017, Heriot-Watt University’s Edinburgh campus introduced the information and computer technologies and robotics for independent living laboratory, which is essentially an entire flat that mimics a real home environment. The laboratory combines a network of wireless sensors, other devices with an internet connection and state-of-the-art domestic robots.

What is interesting about that project is that, in it, computer and robotics scientists work with health experts, sociologists and psychologists, as well as people who have assisted living needs, in order to find globally applicable solutions. Apart from the obvious advantages and benefits that the project will have for people with such needs, it will also create employment in ways that we have not yet imagined—and that is just one scenario.

September of this year saw the launch of the Scottish Government’s first Al strategy, a vision for how Scotland can unlock the full economic and social potential of artificial intelligence. Last year, I mentioned the report published by the Scottish Council for Development and Industry, ScotlandIS, the Royal Society of Edinburgh and BT Scotland, which was called, “Automatic... For the People?”

Following that, this year, a new and equally excellent report was published, which was called, “Building a World-Leading Al and Data strategy for an Inclusive Scotland”, which explores how Scotland can put itself at the forefront of innovation and development in this crucial field.

Given our flourishing technology sector and the industry-leading minds in such institutions as Heriot-Watt University, Scotland will surely attract other experts and businesses to our country.

In a two-part blog published by PricewaterhouseCoopers early last year, we were warned that the factor that most correlated with “potential job automation” was the level of education of the employee. A number of members have already touched on that important issue.

Logically, that means that the best way to ensure security of employment and a prosperous future for our children is an appropriate education. In Scotland that might include a revision of what is being taught to children and teenagers and asking whether it is enough to keep up with what will be asked of them in the future. Is there enough on problem-solving or analytical skills, for example? I am sure that we would all agree that there is not. Classes involving Al should become as normal as English or maths in our primary schools, and that is a reality that we will have to face, sooner rather than later.

The impact of artificial intelligence should not be feared; it should be harnessed. We will have to ride this tiger whether we like it or not, so it is important that we understand it as fully as we can.

As New York University professor and Facebook’s chief scientist for Al research, Yann LeCun, said:

“Our intelligence is what makes us human, and Al is an extension of that quality.”