Assistive intelligence
Local tech experts are helping AI help themselves
BY MADELEINE PAPE
Jurgen Schwanitz,
CEO of ACT Computers, leverages AI technology to support his daily operations as a business owner and his employees’ success. ACT COMPUTERS PHOTOS
Jurgen Schwanitz, CEO of Florida’s largest independent computer store, uses artificial intelligence — AI — every day. He calls it his “daily companion,” or the “smart parrot” on his shoulder.
Schwanitz’s business ACT Computers in Vero Beach, was invited more than three years ago for early testing on AI systems. Now, ACT Computers leverages the technology to improve their business operations.
AI assists Schwanitz and his employees with daily workflow tasks. They’ve seen an increase in productivity. “It is a tool that you have to adapt and use every day,” Schwanitz said during a talk hosted by ACT Computers at the Emerson Center in Vero Beach.
His history and early implementation of this technology puts him — along with other local business owners — at the forefront of AI’s impact on business on the Treasure Coast. Schwanitz began computing when he was 8 years old; he immigrated to the U.S. at age 14. He opened ACT Computers in 1995, growing the company to now employ 30 technicians. The application of AI to his business helped him successfully scale and flourish.
“It translates to getting better ideas,” Schwanitz said. “You do this every day, you run out of ideas.”
The Associated Press defines AI as, “computer systems, software, or processes that can emulate aspects of human work and cognition.” The technology is designed to replicate human thinking and action. It is trained through exposure to data and recognition of patterns. AI’s distinguishing factor is its ability to learn, apply and adapt, based on the data it analyzes and therefore improve its task performance.
Schwanitz uses this technology to generate ideas. He kickstarts the workday by asking AI technology for direction on where to focus his efforts. By automating more mundane tasks, like scheduling or extracting information from large sets of data, Schwanitz finds that he is more efficient.
“It can be a real time saver and can generate more revenue for everybody,” he said.
Schwanitz believes the Treasure Coast is in a good position to utilize AI but may need to develop other sectors first. “We need to focus more on filling out the tech sector. We have a lot of young talent here that wants to help these jobs.”
LOCAL APPLICATION
Schwanitz is using AI to help improve his business performance.
ACT Computers partners with a custom software engineering company based in Boca Raton called The SilverLogic. The SilverLogic focuses on business automation, which includes designing AI applications for mostly non-technology companies.
David Hartmann founded The SilverLogic in 2012, as a 21-year-old student at Florida Atlantic University pursuing a fast-tracked, combined degree in computer science. The focus of his master’s degree was AI.
Hartmann calls AI a “tool to supercharge people.” Along with speed and cost effectiveness, it business applications could impact many industries, due to its potential to increase general productivity.
For example, a company-specific question — like how to take time off from work — may bounce ungracefully through a web of employees before being settled. With an internally trained and developed AI system, the process can be streamlined by providing direct answers when prompted.
AI’s current capabilities lend themselves to larger Treasure Coast industries like logistics and distribution. With predictive product sale technology, companies can preemptively place products in distribution centers. As for other significant employers in the Treasure Coast, Schwanitz says, “There are so many cases that will happen behind the scenes.” Aviation and marine industries may use AI for modeling, manufacturing, routing or maintenance purposes. In healthcare and research, AI could be a tool in early diagnosis or treatment plan customization.
Hartmann often finds local companies needing to first focus on reaching a level of readiness to implement AI. “If all of their data is still on pieces of paper, a lot needs to be transitioned in order to get them to a level where AI can even really ingest their data to train models on it,” he said.
A DEBATED FUTURE
Schwanitz asserts that AI’s presence globally is much more prevalent than what is widely acknowledged by the public. “We have been using Siri on iPhone for the last 10 years,” he said. “It’s not something dramatically new — just running smoother.”
He relates the push to incorporate AI into businesses like the beginning years of spell check systems where the technology became accessible, but universal application caught on gradually. “We just didn’t have the computing power to do this,” Schwanitz said. “Now, we do.”
But the computing power it takes to support AI comes at a cost. In a 2019 research study, the University of Massachusetts Amherst found that training an AI model can produce carbon emissions equivalent to five times the average American car emissions in its lifetime.
Larger data companies, like Google, look to offload the energy demand it takes to support AI by investing in nuclear power projects. Though relatively free of carbon emission, nuclear power presents its own set of risks.
As AI develops rapidly, its concerns do too. AI models developing from human data also reveal human flaws and imperfection. “A key part of ethical use is making sure whatever you get out is edited and revised,” Hartmann said.
Issues with bias, discrimination, accuracy, and misinformation can arise as AI reflects the quality of representation in the data it receives. AI’s unpredictability and evolution could arguably place jobs at risk. Schwanitz views this shift as a trade. “Some redundant jobs will be gone, but then that generates more jobs in another industry because it takes lots to support AI too,” he said.
Hartmann believes in balancing AI’s power to elevate people with other negative outcomes. “Let’s not use AI for anything where it’s not actually needed,” he said. “Meaning, being cautious of where is a good use case for AI and where we are just throwing it in.”
Regardless of its highly debatable implications, AI is actively transforming business on the Treasure Coast. “I think we’re just at the beginning of a very much accelerating journey,” Hartmann said.
