Meet my new AI friend

It can sometimes be lonely working as a mobile maintenance engineer. Travelling around the country to service machinery, going deep underground to maintain pipelines or climbing hundreds of metres high to service wind turbines. Often it’s just you and your rugged computer for company but it looks like mobile workers could soon have a new AI friend to work closely with every day. 

The incredible flurry of progress in AI development has been startling to observe.  The launch of the latest version of Open AI’s ChatGPT has sent shock waves and created excitement around the world. Suddenly, here was an application that could hold intelligent conversations far beyond anything we have seen to date. 

Of course, initial coverage has been all about the more extreme capabilities of this type of technology – it’s ability to be used to cheat in exams or write black hat hacking code. But I suspect some of the most immediate and significant impacts will be seen as it is quickly integrated into the workplace. 

Imagine a new intelligent friend beside you as a mobile maintenance engineer going about your daily tasks. Want to quickly analyse likely faults in a piece of equipment based on data from the past 10 years, then just ask. Looking for someone to complete your admin while you focus on the next challenge? No problem. Need to programme new functions or create new workflows while on site? There’s no need to send a request or return to the office. Just brief your AI app.

This type of intelligent functionality is going to be programmed into your specialist work applications and carried with you on your rugged mobile device wherever you go. The incorporation of ChatGPT into Microsoft’s Bing search engine is just the beginning. It’s coming to a work app near you.

Very soon you will be able to ask or type in a question or command to your rugged device and off you go. Further define or refine the answers until you get to your solution – just like having a conversation with a work colleague but without their annoying habits!

What helpful applications can you image for AI in your current role as a mobile worker?