Designing Autonomous AI

Preface

There’s a saying that “those who can’t do, teach; and those who can’t teach, write.” Well, that’s not how this book came to be. I spent four years traveling around the world to steel mills, mines, factories, testing facilities, design studios, machine shops, chemical plants, oil fields, refineries, warehouses, and logistics centers, learning from subject matter experts about the challenges and opportunities of industrial decision-making, then working with them to design useful Artificial Intelligence (AI) that can help them make better decisions.

What Is Autonomous AI?

Autonomous AI is AI-powered automation that optimizes equipment and processes by sensing and responding in real time.

The great feat of modern AI is programming algorithms that can adapt and change their behavior based on feedback. The goal of Designing Autonomous AI is to show you how to put these learning algorithms to work by teaching AI to make successful decisions in real, production environments.

I’m not claiming that AI brains can achieve parity with humans or match human capability in any area (I will often refer to a specific instance of autonomous AI as a brain). I’m saying that when an autonomous AI is designed properly and makes full use of existing AI and automation components, it can radically outperform systems that calculate actions from known mathematical relationships, search and select actions using objective criteria, or look up actions from recorded human expertise. Let’s look at each ...