— By manufacturing expert Buckley Brinkman
Wisconsin is racing into AI – and the opportunities are multiplying fast. The pace continues to amaze me – even as it occasionally spins your head. Three trends are crystallizing, and they matter:
• AI technology isn’t hard to understand or use. It’s just critical to staying personally and commercially competitive.
• Unique AI specialties are emerging in different regions of the state. All of them are useful and none of them are comprehensive – making it urgent that we think and act Wisconsinbly toward AI.
• Effective AI adoption destroys old paradigms, forcing new approaches and upending established heuristics.
These trends will change Wisconsin, and our actions will determine whether we lead or follow.
AI technology is here and it’s much too late to stop its advance. That means we all need to understand where it fits in our lives and how we can use it to reach our goals. Unfortunately, the usual experts are coming out of the woodwork with their tired bromides about how AI is too complicated for the rest of us to understand and that we all need their help to engage and survive.
Poppycock! I’m a little older and (somewhat) technology challenged, yet I learned the AI basics in an afternoon and started using the tools right away. Over the past four years, persistence, practice, and learning enabled me to incorporate AI into many aspects of my life. In addition, I coached several manufacturers on how to effectively use AI on basic tasks in their operations in less than a day. At this point, complication is just an excuse to stay on the sidelines.
Distinct AI specialties are emerging as leaders in various regions use the technology to solve their particular problems. These regions build the approaches and infrastructure necessary to drive deeper, more sophisticated change that supports their entire area. These applications range from financial services, to manufacturing operations, entrepreneurship, and education – different building blocks for a resilient Wisconsin economy.
If we want to lead the country in AI diMusion, we must build on these regional solutions and lift performance across Wisconsin. We must collectively create new approaches to connect our regional leaders, build on each other’s strengths, create new opportunities, and accelerate statewide adoption.
Finally, AI destroys foundational paradigms across many different fields, professions, and industries. In education, our institutions must adapt their pedagogical approaches to emphasize critical thinking over fact memorization. Service organizations built on a billable hours model must now find a way to charge for delivered value. Manufacturers must organize and employ their vast banks of data to improve operations – reducing costs while improving quality and customer delivery. Each one of us must engage with AI to be nakedly honest about how the technology will reshape our work – and what we will do to adapt.
AI will make our lives better – or worse. It will position Wisconsin for a bright future – or not. Our leaders will embrace these changes – or choose to ignore them.
All will have profound consequences. If we lean in and build on our regional strengths, and create the new paradigms AI demands, Wisconsin’s future will be quite bright indeed.
