HELSINKI, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The role of artificial intelligence (AI) on the actual productivity was one of the themes of the ongoing annual Big Data Value Forum in Helsinki, which is arranged jointly by the European Commission and the Bid Data Value Association.
Caj Sodergard, chairman of the event and research professor at the Finnish technology think tank, VTT, told Finnish media on Tuesday that despite the increased use of AI, the improvement of productivity in Europe has been disappointing.
"Compared to the situation 10 or 20 years ago, the increase in productivity has declined to a half," Sodergard told national broadcaster Yle. "Since 2009 the annual growth of productivity in Europe has been around 0.5 percent," he noted.
Sodergard attributed the situation partially to the fact that AI is a horizontally transferred technology and the spreading takes time. AI itself also needs supporting innovations.
In a press release handed out by VTT, Sodergard underlined that benefiting from the advantages of AI requires connecting research with the needs of industries. Additionally, a long term strategy and education is needed to further the understanding of the values of AI.
Commenting on the role of AI, Timo Seppala, leading researcher at the Research Institute of Finnish Economy (ETLA), said the possibilities of artificial intelligence have been overestimated.
He told Yle that the current applications solve "very narrow problems and do not integrate in the operational systems of companies."
Seppala urged the use of correct terminology. "We should rather talk about data analysis and machine learning," he noted.
