Dr Jenifer Baxter, Head of Engineering at the
Institution of Mechanical Engineers, said about the Select
Committee on Artificial Intelligence (House of Lords)
report:
“Artificial Intelligence is entering a critical stage
in its evolution and adoption. Even the Institution’s
own Formula
Student competition, where students design, build
and then race a sports car, is encouraging students to look to
the future by introducing an AI element. This year, students will
have the opportunity to develop a cost-effective software package
that will allow an AI car to make its own decisions, and learn
and improve from its performance in a safe environment.
“The Report highlights that as AI decreases demand for some jobs,
but creates demand for others, retraining will become a lifelong
necessity. I would suggest that it will become more important for
the next generation to understand how AI can be used to enhance
their work, rather than fear the effects on their roles and
whether their jobs will be replaced. AI has an enormous potential
to support engineers across a wide variety of sectors and
specialisms and is already in use in areas, such as, design
analysis and simulation, manufacturing, energy and
transport.
“As AI becomes a more integral part of our day-to-day
lives, regulation must be specific to each sector, rather than an
overarching framework. In 2016, the Institution’s Case Study on
Autonomous and Driverless Cars raised the need to
address societal questions before highly and fully automated cars
are both accepted and legally able to be positioned on our roads;
this will include having the right regulatory framework in place.
Engineers will need to create an environment where connected
autonomous vehicles can operate safely with or without an
operator during a transition period to a fully autonomous vehicle
system. This transition period could last for several
decades.”
