APRIL 2025AEROSPACEDEFENSEREVIEW.COM8As we transition from the first three Industrial Revolutions--characterized by steam engines, mass production, and computerization--we find ourselves in the midst of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, or Industry 4.0. This era is marked by Artificial Intelligence in the form of Generative Pretrained Transformers (GPT), which demonstrate abilities we could only have dreamt of a few years ago. Although these technologies have yet to fully manifest in aerospace manufacturing, they hold the promise of transformative change. So, what will the future look like? My view is that it will be entirely different yet exactly the same.What is Artificial Intelligence and How Did We Get Here?Let's start with what is meant by Artificial Intelligence. Artificial intelligence itself is an interesting and potentially misleading term. An AI algorithm is using complex math to produce the most likely output based on an input, typically a digital image or text. In truth, it is closer to applied statistics than to a form of intelligence. Nevertheless, the term "AI" has been accepted and is far from charmless.This technology is based on a mathematical representation of a neuron first implemented in the 1950s. The advent of the Graphical Processing Unit (GPU), initially designed for video game graphics, provided the computational power necessary for AI development. Yes, it is true - whilst playing your favorite first-person video game, you were unknowingly laying the groundwork for AI. We now have the basic structure of a neural network and the specialized hardware needed to quickly run the required calculations. It took a while to realize this, with the first glimpse of this future in 2012 with Alexnet.The convergence of internet infrastructure, digitization, and academic research has led to today's AI capabilities. To get the internet running, we needed rooms filled with computers, which improved as online activity grew. Eventually, we had excess computing capacity, leading to the creation of cloud computing. These computers were versatile and capable of various tasks. Simultaneously, researchers were using large computing power and neural networks for pattern recognition, utilizing vast amounts of digital data. With a few improvements in hardware and neural network architecture, we arrive at today's capabilities. By Paul Guerrier, Manufacturing Engineering Manager, MoogARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND MANUFACTURING OPERATIONS, WHAT MIGHT THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE?Paul GuerrierIn My Opinion
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