Building a stairway to AI
The AI-on-Demand (AIoD) platform, an initiative of the EU-funded AI4EUROPE project, is a sustainable, digital platform and experimentation environment. Through the creation of open research channels and mechanisms, the platform aims to foster a European artificial intelligence (AI) research ecosystem while maximising AI’s impact. However, while the project was busy building the AIoD platform, researchers quickly discovered that it was difficult for non-AI experts to use it. “At this stage, the most fundamental need for the AI-on-Demand platform is the introduction of improved functionality to allow for easy engagement with its core targeted stakeholders, namely low-tech SMEs,” says Michela Milano, a researcher at the University of Bologna. Specifically, the platform needs simple mechanisms that can match users to AI tools, models, data sets, courses and tutorials. “What we need is a ‘stairway to AI’, a bridge that links low-tech users to the higher-level AI resources that have the potential to transform their business,” adds Milano. Creating that link is the EU-funded StairwAI project.
A multilingual chatbot and a unique matchmaking feature
Coordinated by the University of Bologna, the project aims to stimulate SME engagement with the AIoD platform. To do this, the project is adding a new service layer to the platform – a layer that includes, for example, a multilingual interaction function that allows the user to communicate with the platform in their own language. “Our multilingual chatbot is programmed to understand the technology readiness level of a company, discover their business needs and identify the available AI resources capable of meeting those needs,” remarks Milano. As to the latter, the project has developed a matchmaking capability that will automatically match the user with the AI tools best designed to answer their unique business needs. The feature can also recommend necessary hardware and match the user to key hardware providers.
Lowering the technological threshold for using AI
While engaging with SMEs has proved more challenging than expected, Milano is confident that the new service layer developed by the StairwAI project will help overcome any hesitancy users may have about engaging with the AIoD platform. “With a focus on simplicity and lowering the technological threshold for using AI, our solutions will help increase European SMEs’ uptake and adoption of this powerful tool,” she says. Although the project itself is now finished, the StairwAI team continues working to promote the use of the enhanced platform. They are particularly focused on how the matchmaking feature could benefit industrial associations, university research offices and human resource providers. “Getting from identifying a user’s problem to implementing the right solution is the holy grail of AI,” concludes Milano. “By identifying the solving technique for a given problem description, the StairwAI project has built the first step in this direction.”
Keywords
StairwAI, AI, artificial intelligence, AI-on-Demand platform, AIoD, AI4EUROPE, SME, chatbot
