Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly finding its way into the production and working world of tomorrow: AI systems support work processes, take over tasks and create new fields of work. Professor Volker Lohweg, Institute Director at inIT, explains: "Technology acceptance and employee participation are two keywords that are close to our hearts in addition to technology development. If the technologies we develop at inIT for the industrial production world are not accepted by employees in practice, we will quickly lag behind in international competition." The goal of the Lemgo research work is therefore to make AI algorithms explainable and comprehensible, says Lohweg.
But what does AI have to do to intelligently support humans in their work? The task of AI is to identify and extract information and correlations in highly complex processes - such as production plants or economic systems - and to make decisions based on this information. The goal here is to relieve employees of their workload. For this collaboration between AI and employees, however, it is imperative that the AI's decisions are transparent and can be explained in a comprehensible manner. In the KIAM project, inIT is working on two lighthouse projects: Together with Dr. Oetker, research is being conducted on AI-supported sales planning, and together with Lenze and the Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences, concrete use cases of AI are being developed in a participatory manner and examined for their impact on work design.
"It is now certain that AI will fundamentally change the world of work. It is important for us not to lose focus on people in the process. At inIT, we are therefore working with our research and industry partners to develop AI algorithms in particular that create cooperative workplaces," explains Professor Dr. Carsten Röcker, deputy director of the institute at inIT. The goal of the Lemgo research is to explore and exploit the potential of AI applications in industrial practice, while at the same time showing employees the opportunities to improve their everyday working lives.
The identification of possible applications and the development of concrete solutions pose challenges, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, such as a lack of skilled workers or unclear organizational and technological requirements. The KIAM competence center brings together findings from labor research in this future field.
About KIAM:
The Competence Center "AI for the Working World of Industrial SMEs" (KIAM) is one of the two projects selected from 47 applications in the BMBF call for proposals "Competence Centers for Labor Research". Prof. Dr. Roman Dumitrescu, Managing Director of it's OWL Clustermanagement GmbH: "The award is a huge success for OstWestfalenLippe. Our universities and Fraunhofer institutions are leaders in AI research, and with it's OWL we have established excellent transfer structures for small and medium-sized enterprises. With the competence center, we can make the results from cutting-edge research available to industry in OWL and bring them into application in small and medium-sized businesses." 18 universities and companies are working with IG Metall to develop concrete approaches to workplace design and qualification. The competence center will receive 10.7 million euros in funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research over the next five years (project volume 12.2 million euros).
KIAM is supported by the universities of Bielefeld and Paderborn, TH OWL, FH Bielefeld, the University of Applied Sciences, Fraunhofer IEM and Fraunhofer IOSB-INA as well as the companies Atos, Bette, Bosch Rexroth, Deutsche Angestellten-Akademie OWL, Dr. Oetker, Kannegiesser, itelligence, Lenze, Miele, WAGO and Weidmüller and IG Metall. Key topics include workplace design, skills development and change management.
In lighthouse projects, research institutions and companies develop concrete solutions in which AI technologies are made available for various fields of application. The results and experiences from the lighthouse projects are to be made available to small and medium-sized enterprises. To this end, an information platform is being set up, good examples are being prepared, and events and workshops are being held. Employees will be trained in the use of AI technologies in continuing education courses. In transfer projects, companies can use new AI technologies in cooperation with a research institution to solve specific challenges in their company. Transfer partners of the competence center such as owl maschinenbau and OstWestfalenLippe GmbH provide support.