MechChem Africa November-December 2023

Process automation and AI Hennie Colyn, direct sales executive for process automation at Schneider Electric, talks about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the role it can play in process automation.

must be managed carefully and stringently. AI experts and data scientists are often at the forefront of ethical decision-making: detecting bias, building feedback loops, and running anomaly detection to avoid data poisoning – in applications that may have far-reaching consequences for humans. They should not be left alone in these criti cal endeavours. To select a valuable use case, it is nec essary to choose and clean the data, test the model, and control its behaviour, and for this, both data scientists and domain experts are needed. For example, take the task of predicting the weekly energy consumption of an of fice building. Here the combined expertise of data scientists and field experts enables the selection of key features in designing relevant algorithms, such as the impact of outside temperatures on different days of the working week. This approach ensures a more accurate forecasting model and provides explana tions for consumption patterns. Therefore, if unusual conditions occur, user-validated suggestions for relearning can be incor porated to improve system behaviour and avoid models biased with overrepresented data. Responsible AI Creating AI solutions follows the same process as creating other digital products – the foundation is to manage risks, ensure cybersecurity, assure legal compliance and Schneider Electric, a leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation has, for the sixth consecu tive year, sponsored the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) School of Electrical and Information Engineering’s Schneider Automation Student Award, reconfirming its commitment to innovation in the field of engi neering. The award handover formed part of the annual Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment Prizegiving Ceremony, hosted on Friday, 27 October 2023 at Wits’ Great Hall in Johannesburg. The prizegiving serves as a platform to commend the outstanding academic accomplishments of Wits’ students, reflecting on their commitment to excellence. Presented by Christophe Begat, Vice

data protection. Keeping this in mind, Schneider Electric has taken a three-pronged approach to the way we develop AI solutions: • Compliance with laws and standards, such as our Vulnerability Handling & Coordinated Disclosure Policy, which addresses cybersecurity vulnerabili ties and targets compliance with ISO/ IEC 29147 and ISO/IEC 30111. At the same time, as new responsible AI standards are still under development, we actively contribute to their defini tion, and we commit to complying fully with them. Our ethical code of conduct as outlined in our Trust Charter. Our strong focus and commitment to sustainability translates into AI-enabled solutions accelerating decarbonisation and op timising energy usage. We also adopt frugal AI – we thrive to lower the carbon footprint of ML by designing AI models that require less energy. For our internal governance policies and processes, for instance, we have appointed a digital risk leader and data officer, dedicated to our AI projects. We also launched a Responsible AI (RAI) workgroup focused on frame works and legislation in the field, such as the European Commission’s AI Act or the American Algorithmic Accountability Act, and we deliber ately choose not to launch projects that raise the highest ethical concerns. q President, Industry and Segment, Anglophone Africa at Schneider Electric, this year's re cipient of the Schneider Automation Student Award was Jeniel Jinabhai, the top final-year student in the field of Measurement and Control in 2022. "Schneider Electric is hon oured to sponsor the Schneider Automation Student Award once again. As an organisa tion, we are dedicated to supporting aca demic excellence and innovation, fostering talent in the field of electrical engineering. Congratulations to this year’s deserving win ner, Jeniel Jinabhai,” said Begat. The Schneider Student Automation Award includes complementary training at the Schneider Electric Training Academy in Midrand, Johannesburg, amongst others. • •

T o some it might feel as though we are living in an ‘endless summer’ of artificial intelligence (AI), with a new breakthrough announced almost monthly. And whilst AI offers impor tant benefits to myriad industries, it should also be a cautionary tale, with the relevant cybersecurity, legal compliance, data pro tection, and so forth, measures put in place. In the case of process automation, AI undoubtedly has its part to play, adding an important layer of intelligence. By us ing machine learning (ML) and complex algorithms to analyse structured and unstructured data, businesses can use the decision-making engines of AI to develop a knowledge base and formulate predictions based on these multiple data sources. Where process automation works with data, AI interprets it – whether historical or current – to uncover trends, make predic tions or suggest optimal courses of action. All this offers intelligent decision support to businesses, helping them deliver fail-proof and future-focused strategies that propel business growth. Together, process automation and AI offer proactive problem detection, predictive maintenance, self-healing systems, and intelligent automation. These capabilities enable organisations to minimise downtime, reduce operational costs and increase pro ductivity levels. AI-powered analytics tools can process and analyse large datasets, identify patterns and uncover valuable business insights. This, as mentioned, empowers organisa tions to make informed decisions, optimise processes, and drive innovation. From the above, it is clear that process automation and AI are an exciting fit; how ever, from a risk and biased point of view, AI Hennie Colyn, direct sales executive for process automation at Schneider Electric. An intelligent yet cautionary partnership

Schneider Electric supports engineering

26 ¦ MechChem Africa • November-December 2023