“AI is baked into everything – just like the internet”

From traffic lights and street lighting to workplaces and healthcare, AI is changing the conditions across virtually every industry. Branschaktuellt spoke with Jeff Sundheim, an 18 year Google veteran and CEO of Sundheim Advisory, about the technology that is changing everything and why the biggest challenge is not found in the code but in the people.

AI is no longer a question for the future. It is a question for the present and for the companies and cities that understand this, there are enormous opportunities to seize. Jeff Sundheim has worked with technology and digitalisation across a wide range of industries and is convinced of one thing: AI will change everything, just as the internet once did.

– People talked about the internet in the year 2000 as if it were something separate. Now nobody talks about the internet, it is baked into everything. AI is exactly the same, says Jeff Sundheim, adding:

– AI is like a jetpack. It can take you to places you have never been before or have had difficulty reaching.

Not new – but now it is available to everyone

Machine learning, the precursor to AI, has existed for decades. Much of the world is already based on it without people even thinking about it. What changed everything was the launch of generative AI and ChatGPT, which made the technology more consumer-focused and created the current buzz. But the foundations were laid much earlier – Google’s research division published a research paper in 2017 on Transformer Technology, which became the foundation for much of the research that later led to ChatGPT and other AI developers.

At its core, AI is the ability to gather enormous amounts of data, integrate it, act on the insights and update automatically in real time. This makes the technology potentially relevant to virtually every industry and organisation.

– Everything is about data and real-time input to that data. AI gives us the tools to make something meaningful of it, says Jeff Sundheim.

Cities and infrastructure benefit enormously

One area where AI has particularly great potential is cities and municipalities. They bear an enormous responsibility for infrastructure — often ageing infrastructure — and have historically struggled to afford advanced technology. That is changing now.

One concrete example is Project Greenlight, where AI is overlaid on existing traffic infrastructure to optimise the timing of traffic signals based on real-time traffic. The technology has previously been far too expensive for local authorities but is now available at a fraction of the previous cost.

– This technology has until now been far too expensive for a local authority to purchase. Now it is available at scale and at reasonable prices, says Jeff Sundheim.

The same logic applies to street lighting. Sensors that detect when people are moving outside and adjust the lighting accordingly can deliver enormous energy savings — a seemingly small change that aggregated leads to major gains.

The human barrier

The biggest challenge with AI adoption is neither technical nor economic, it is psychological. Research shows that people use AI significantly more for personal use than at work, often out of fear of being replaced.

– It is a distinctly human barrier. Every technology has to be adopted and the challenge is to make that adoption less threatening and more appealing, says Jeff Sundheim.

Employers have a responsibility to create an environment where it’s perceived as a tool – not a threat. Because in reality, it is not a question of either or.

Greatest potential – everywhere

When Jeff Sundheim is asked where AI has the greatest potential, in production, the supply chain, predictive maintenance or customer relations, the answer is simple: all four.

– It is like asking where electricity or clean water is most important. AI is a fundamental technology that affects everything, he says.

• More reading: Mistral AI invests €1.2 billion in Swedish data centre