2017 is a significant year for ISG as the school marks its half-century existence since it was founded in 1967. 50 alumni share their thoughts on what they envision towards creating a better future that is to come in a book ‘And if tomorrow’ that we have dedicated to our 50th anniversary.

This month, discover Alexandre Henneuse (ISG Class of 2014) Co-founder of VICTOR & CHARLES

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the ability of a machine or robot to reproduce functions normally attributed to animals and humans. Today, it is used in the fields of perception by computers, image recognition and understanding of videos, sounds and texts. Artificial intelligence is so universal that 85% of French people interact with AI systems, even though two-thirds of them are not aware of it.

For Facebook, Google and Microsoft, image recognition systems allow the search and organization of photos and screening for violent or pornographic images. In other areas, advances in computer sight are paving the way for cars without drivers as well as automated systems for medical imaging analysis. These advances make it possible to detect melanomas and other tumors more reliably than by experienced radiologists. Many hopes are being placed on AI applications dedicated to health, security (detection of cyber fraud, automated video surveillance, even crime prediction…) and education. Specialized robots will deliver packages, clean offices or improve security.
Naturally, this raises the question of the impact of artificial intelligence on work and employment. The arrival of AI and its general introduction in many professions will give birth to new types of jobs that are difficult to imagine today. In other words, humans will deal exclusively with missions with high added value. At the same time, artificial intelligence is likely to contribute to increasing inequality if it benefits only a small fraction of society.

We have entered the information age in which we amass such astronomical amounts of data that humans need to be ‘‘augmented’’ to decode it. In the case of human contact, with this idea of augmented intelligence, humans and machines will collaborate to obtain a better result than the sum of the two individually. Indeed, humans and robots are endowed with different but complementary skills. One (AI) has the ability to explore phenomenal amounts of information to come up with a person’s desires, needs and personality traits, while the other (human) has the ability to use that information to convey an emotion and create an emotional bond.

For example, our belief at Victor & Charles is that by using technology, we can offer hoteliers the means to know their customers, better welcome them and predict their needs in real time. In the face of the rise of collaborative hosting companies (Airbnb) as well as booking intermediaries (Booking.com), hoteliers are finding it increasingly difficult to attract customers. The solution lies in the use of AI to analyze and make use of the public data on each customer of the hotel. AI will analyze photos, comments and articles to reveal information about each client, such as their tastes, personality and preferences. This information will allow hoteliers to prepare arrivals, identify influential customers and those with a high loyalty potential that need to be courted. A beautiful illustration of AI working to improve human relations.

Posté le: 06-02-2018