AI Hotel
11/17/21 by Sam Tverskoy
Is artificial intelligence (AI) taking over the workforce? That's a question no one probably wants to hear. Currently in Japan there is a hotel called Henn-na “Strange” Hotel. This hotel is entirely run by AI and robots. This hotel opened in 2015 in the Tokyo Disney Resort district in Tokyo, 1.5 km from Tokyo Disneyland.
Artificial intelligence is the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems. Specific applications of AI include expert systems, natural language processing, speech recognition and machine vision. The AI in the hotel uses speech recognition software and has recorded responses for certain questions. Other speech recognition software in the hotel allows guests to order food.
Sadly Henn-na “Strange” Hotel has had to cut its robotic workforce after the experience failed to reduce costs or workload for its employees. Japan's Henn-na “Strange” Hotel has taken away half of its 243 robots after they created more problems than they could solve like putting in wrong food orders and not talking when talked to, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal. One of the layoffs included a doll-shaped assistant in each hotel room called Churi. Churi is a small robot in your room who can recognize your face to let you in (no keys at the Henn-na Hotel!), turn your lights on or off at your command, and even adjust the temperature of the room automatically based on your body temperature. Also, Churi is connected to the internet, you can get up-to-date information from her regarding the weather and other topics.
This leads to the question: will robots and AI take over? “Maybe, according to our analysis of journal publications and conference papers tracked by the Dimensions database, the global output for AI research grew from just over 52,000 globally in 2000 to roughly 403,000 in 2019, representing an increase of more than 600%.” (Nature) Although AI has existed for more than sixty years, today, thanks to greater computing power, as well as the availability of large amounts of data and more sophisticated algorithms, the applications of this field of computing have proliferated considerably and have had a direct impact on the workplace. AI is everywhere, AI assists in every area of our lives, whether we're trying to read our emails, get driving directions, get music or movie recommendations. Even recently Self-Driving and Parking Vehicles use AI. One hotel does not define the future of AI so even though the hotel had to shut down, they proved the concept and there are still multiple uses for AI today.
Resources:
The race to the top among the world's leaders in artificial ...
Why is Artificial Intelligence the fastest growing industry?