11th Mar 2020

Our Bachelor of Science in Computing Students and Lecturers were recently delighted to welcome Ronan Dalton (@daltonology), CTO of IBM Ireland for a guest lecture on Artificial Intelligence.

Ronan first gave us an insight into the fascinating history of IBM Ireland, from when it first opened in Dublin in 1956 to it’s Irish operation today which is the IBM microcosm covering all business units, including Watson, Analytics, Cloud, Security, Watson Health, Services, Research, Digital business Group and a local Data Centre.

IBM define Machine Learning as the scientific study of algorithms and statistical models that computer systems use to perform a specific task without using explicit instructions, relying on pattern and inference instead. In an article produced by the IBM Institute for Business Value: AI 2018 for the MIT Sloan Management Review it was reported that 94% of companies believe that Artificial Intelligence is the key to competitive advantage.

Ronan discussed the progression to machine learning in business which is underlined by digital change management and which is developed in tandem with people experience design. He also spoke about the challenges businesses face, with 60% of companies seeing compliance as a barrier to achieving success in applying AI, in part due to a lack of trust and understanding of the system.

63% of companies surveyed by the IBM Institute for Business Value also cited availability of right skills as the top barrier to AI adoption.