How are businesses in the West Midlands using AI?

With around 70,000 people working in the AI ​​industry in the West Midlands and leaders promising more jobs and growth, how are organizations leveraging it?

The West Midlands Integration Authority (WMCA) says there are more than 140 AI companies in the region and is encouraging more businesses to adopt AI technology.

Its recent AI and technology prospectus sets out a three-fold mission for the region. To become a nationally recognized AI testbed for public service innovation, to drive business productivity, and to implement an AI Academy that provides free training for adults.

Andy Hague, head of TechWM, which helped write the prospectus, said: “I get so tired of hearing that ‘99% of all jobs will be replaced by AI within eight years’. That’s not really the case, but it’s very easy to panic.”

As companies increasingly use AI-related tools, Haig, who took over as TechWM’s leader in April, said a fundamental component is increasing people’s overall awareness of what AI is and what it can do for them.

“I remain convinced that a huge number of people, probably well over 70% of the general population, cannot explain with any clarity what it is.” [AI] “It’s about, or what it brings, or how it might impact their lives,” he said.

He added: ”If you’re running a small business and you’re creating widgets, you don’t understand the impact that AI, cyber, quantum will have, you just create widgets, [think] “That doesn’t concern me.”

”The real focus is if you’re a business, and no matter what size you are, how can you embrace that…to improve yourself a little bit, to hone your processes, speed things up, cut out areas of potential human error, stop duplication. ”

Tech WM will work with business, academia and the public sector to provide feedback to the WMCA to help realize its mission, Haig said.

The body is partially It is being funded by local authorities to drive a “digital technology agenda” while aiming to attract private equity and investment to the region.

He said the West Midlands Cyber ​​Hub opened at Millennium Point in Birmingham at the end of November as “a place where anyone can go to ask questions and see what’s going on” for any business looking for guidance.

Several AI and Cyber ​​departments will also open in the region in 2025, with the hope of making the West Midlands a competitive and leader in skills training.

The University of Wolverhampton’s Center for Cyber ​​Resilience and Artificial Intelligence (CYBRAI) will open in early 2025, and Aston University’s Capgemini AI Center for Excellence has also recently opened at its London campus.

“I interact a lot with Wolverhampton, Warwick, Aston and Birmingham and they’re all doing great things,” Hague said.

An ambitious £10 million strategy was recently announced by Mayor Richard Parker and the WMCA, predicting that AI will become a core skill like maths and English, and aims to provide free training, create jobs and secure investment.

Manny Athwal, chief executive and founder of the recently opened Coding and AI School in Birmingham and Wolverhampton, said he believed technical education in all subjects was now essential and the region needed to work together further to stay ahead of cities like Manchester.

The school opened a city center campus in partnership with the University of Wolverhampton earlier this year, offering computer science, business management, health and social care courses that use AI “across the curriculum”.

It aims to give students practical experience in using AI, how to challenge it, how to use data and analytical tools, and, importantly, how to work with AI rather than being replaced by it.

Students will also learn when to use AI and how to validate what they get from it.

Mr Aswal added that it was important to encourage more mature people to learn about it, and called on the industry not to “leave it to the next generation”.

Shakira Bibi, 41, from Birmingham, is in her first year at university. She said learning about AI “opened doors for her” on the school’s Health and Social Care Foundation course with the University of Wolverhampton.

The mother of three said she wanted to further her education after working in education and then turning 40 and having been a “mother and housewife for a long time.”

She said she learned how to use AI in her research, which saved her time, and also used a VR headset for scenario-based simulations.

“I feel like as kids get older, if we’re on the same wavelength with the technology and AI that we have, we can help them even more,” she said.

“That’s something I never thought I’d be able to do.”

Fellow health and social care student and former nurse Christina Abayomi Daniel said she enjoyed applying it to her studies and “everyday life”, adding that she might have given up if it had not been part of the course.

“In 2011, when I was a university student. I had to go to the library all day to look for different books, but now that I know about AI, I don’t have to leave the house. I just need to know how to talk to it,” she said.

Mr Hague said it was an “attractive time” for the region as the sector grew and the “bubble” factor around AI subsided.

He called it “quite low but very highly valued” in terms of “pure output” compared to other sectors, mainly because things are still in their early stages.

But he said the future is exciting, given the WMCA’s goals for jobs and growth.

Atwal said he wants to see less division in the region and that more funding from the government is needed to change that, something he is confident will happen.

But, he added, “If someone else gets that money before we do, they will take the throne.”