It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the recent tsunami of hype, information, misinformation, speculation and fear surrounding artificial intelligence. And yet, there’s no doubt that when it’s properly utilized, AI can benefit the marine industry in many ways.
Constant Contact recently found that 74% of small business owners are interested in using AI or automation, with 55% reporting that their interest grew in the past six months. The problem is that 46% of respondents said they only have a beginner’s understanding of the benefits of these technologies.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at some basics.
The Next Big Thing
The projected financial impact of AI during the next few years is staggering. In April, PricewaterhouseCoopers announced an investment of $1 billion to expand and scale the company’s AI capabilities. The company’s forecast is that the global AI market will grow so fast that by 2030, it will be contributing $15.7 trillion to the global economy.
One of the biggest players in that market is Microsoft. In January, it added $10 billion on top of the $3 billion it already invested in OpenAI to acquire 49% of the company that makes the text creator ChatGPT and the image creator and DALL-E 2. Microsoft plans to integrate ChatGPT across its product portfolio, which includes the Bing search engine, sales and marketing software, GitHub coding tools, Microsoft 365 productivity bundle and Azure cloud. Microsoft is planning to let AI work its magic on Excel spreadsheets, as well as in Teams, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word, PivotTable and more.
In the marine space, Radian IoT uses tracking devices that record and transmit many parameters of a boat, starting from the time it’s on the assembly line to when it’s being used by a boat buyer. It can even gather data when the boat does not yet have a battery, or when the battery is disconnected off-season, dead or stolen. One of Radian’s founders, CEO Joe Czarnecky, wants to help the marine industry understand how the mountain of data that underlies AI systems can be managed — but he often receives pushback.
“Many say they don’t need it and are just fine with what they have,” he says. “Most executives know they need the data but may be overwhelmed and don’t know where to start. There is currently so much data available that some executives feel they are overloaded. Most need to see the outcome to understand the power of data and AI.”
According to Czarnecky, a good first step for smaller companies is to hire a consulting group that specializes in AI tools. “I would assign the most data-savvy person in the company to start to learn AI and prepare a weekly class geared to the business, and present it to the executive staff,” Czarnecky says. “I would also hire someone to come in and teach it at least monthly. This field is moving so fast, with new uses and AI apps arriving daily. This is something companies can start to use a little at a time and ease into greater use.”
Where is AI Being Used?
Larger marine corporations were reluctant to share specifics about how they’re using AI for this story, but a recent roundtable with three members of Marine Marketers of America revealed some of the ways it’s being incorporated.
Moderator Brian Chandler, founder and CEO of Commonwealth Public Relations in Glen Allen, Va., said his team uses tools like ChatGPT Enterprise to do research and to generate press releases and content that are sent to media and websites. He cited the tool’s incredible speed, relative accuracy and ability to be tweaked to fine-tune the messaging. “What you ask AI for is the key to getting good results.” Chandler says.
Kyle Ginthner, CEO of Brand Fuel Marine Marketing, said a problem with AI-generated content is the fact that the machine isn’t a boater, and the copy usually reveals that. Another issue is that AI hallucinations can make up false quotes or facts, and computer experts aren’t sure why. Tools like ChatGPT Enterprise and Bard AI are trained on vast amounts of data that encompasses the good, the bad and the ugly from the internet. Another legal hurdle is that AI-generated content or images are not protected by copyright laws.
Bilal Hassan, vice president and chief architect at Brunswick, stressed the importance of strict guidelines when using AI, including multiple people looking at work being done using public AI tools. All content must be reviewed for accuracy, plagiarism and copywriting issues, and source codes must be validated. He urged listeners never to transmit personal identity or confidential corporate information into AI prompts.
A few more ways AI is being used in the marine industry include aids to navigation, docking assistance, autonomous piloting, fishfinding, fish-stock monitoring, sales, trend and weather forecasting, smart on-board systems and predictive maintenance. AI also helps design boats, motors and accessories.
The bottom line is if your company is not using AI in some fashion, you are behind the curve.
This article was originally published in the October 2023 issue.
