Humanoids will soon be running International Trade
In my previous article, I talked about how Blockchain technology can revolutionize International Trade. In this one, I am going to talk about the applications of Artificial intelligence (AI) in trade across the world. AI is already applied to areas such as data analytics, language translation services and is having a transformative impact on some of the important roadblocks of international trade,
Before we move any further, let’s understand a few important things about AI. There is something called “: Narrow AI”- Chatbots, auto cars or translation, etc. fall under this category. Narrow AI comprises systems that are self-learning in nature and can surpass human performance in the tasks performed. Narrow AI systems are based on machine learning and they compute huge datasets- either monitored datasets or just raw data to identify patterns and learn on their own. Then, there are Deep Neural Networks (DNNs), which are multiple layers of Narrow AI and one layer gives input to the other. This makes each layer highly modular and can separately work on different types of data.
Applying these AI techniques to real-world scenarios requires huge data sets for kick-starting and helping AI systems learn. Here the quantity of data sets is more important than the quality. The more the data sets are unusual and irregular, the better it is. Now let’s move to specific applications of AI in international trade.
Supply Chain
AI has already started impacting how global value chains look. Many developed countries are seeing increased use of robotics in supply chain management. Businesses are using AI for warehouse management, demand prediction, and improving the accuracy of JIT manufacturing and stocking. In Germany, the concept of Industry 4.0 is all about IoT, sensors, robots, and systems that will connect machines to materials and supplies and customers as well.
The use of Robotics has increased the productivity and efficiency of packing and inventory management. In Tokyo, Japan, at a factory of change dispensers manufacturing, a humanoid robot has been working simultaneously with employees since 2015. Automation opportunities like these can be life-changing, especially for businesses that hugely depend on a large pool of low-cost labor.
Trade Platforms
Digital trade platforms like eBay are already AI-based. This means a lot for small businesses. In countries like the US, 97% of small businesses are on eBay export, which means they are able to run their business globally. eBay has something called a machine translation service, which is an AI developed translation service to enable trade on the platform across countries that speak different languages.
Trade negotiations
AI can very well predict the economic trajectory of entities, which makes it really apt to support trade negotiations. Brazil has an Intelligent Tech & Trade Initiative in place that includes using AI to improve trade negotiations as part of it. It was launched in the 2017 WTO Public Forum.
AI is far more accurate and speedy compared to humans in spotting risks within the legal documentations. A study suggested that robots scored 94% as compared to 85% of lawyers in reviewing documents and it was able to review 5 agreements in 26 seconds.
AI will also make trade negotiations more transparent for everyone. .
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These are a few areas of International Trade where AI is already making a difference, but the possibilities are endless. But the picture is not as rosy as it seems. Wait for my next article on the challenges of applying AI in international trade.
