Ensuring INFORMS’ place in fast-moving AI race

The convergence of big data, AI (artificial intelligence) and algorithmic platforms is transforming all sectors of the economy. Driverless cars and popular applications such as IBM Watson and AlphaGo (Silver, et al., 2017 [1]) have captured the imagination of the public and leaders alike.

Organizations of all types and sizes are pondering what AI means for them. As AI automates, fully or partially, the execution of a task, the nature of a job that is a collection of tasks, changes. This in turn raises questions among workers in every sector of the economy about the future of their work, and policymakers are actively discussing the myriad opportunities and challenges of AI’s impact on our society and our economy.

All around us, the AI race is moving fast – cars and games, the sharing economy platforms, disaster recovery, Alexa and Siri, fake news and social media, fraud detection; the list goes on and on. AI is already impacting our lives and expanding every day. Yet there is little awareness that the field of operations research (O.R.) and analytics contributes in foundational ways to the success of AI and its application. The techniques and methods developed in our community are critically relevant to each of the three layers – sensing, learning and decision-making – that make up the AI stack. Management science has an equally important role to play in characterizing the business and societal consequences (e.g., the future of work) of AI developments and deployment.

In addition to advancing artificial intelligence, the field of O.R. and analytics has been a leader in augmenting intelligence (another type of AI) of human actors involved in decision-making in every sector of the economy. Examples include advances taking place in security and police departments, optimizing organ transplants, financial planning and drug discovery, to name just a few more. Yet, much more work needs to be done with policymakers, business leaders and funding organizations such as the NSF to ensure that our role in the opportunities and challenges of AI become better understood and valued.

Recognizing that AI has fast become an important national priority, it is essential for us to better address this lack of awareness to ensure the long-term health of the profession and INFORMS. To begin, I have appointed an ad hoc “AI Strategy Advisory Committee” (AISAC) to serve as a source of expertise and advice. The AISAC will help educate the INFORMS Board of Directors and facilitate discussions leading to decisions on strategy, opportunities and tactics. This will result in actions that INFORMS will take to better position our community to both contribute to, and benefit from, the rise of AI. The AISAC is comprised of Pascal Van Hentenryck, Radhika Kulkarni, Phebe Vayanos and Madeleine Udell.

Some of the initial focus will be:

1. Educating: AI is a broad field. So is the field of O.R. and analytics. What are the points of overlap, where are the synergies and how can each field benefit the other?
2. Building awareness of AI and the opportunities its emergence presents within INFORMS: What are the mechanisms that INFORMS could use to build awareness of AI and the opportunities this presents to the OR/MS community? Are there opportunities for our journals and meetings, as well as professional education opportunities for our members? How can INFORMS and our subdivisions take on high-impact societal challenges to showcase the strengths of O.R. and analytics, and how can this be expanded with AI? With what sister societies should we explore collaborations? Which private sector organizations should serve as partners?
3. Building external awareness of what O.R. and analytics contribute to AI: What organizations and stakeholders should INFORMS influence? How can working together benefit society and help address the grand challenges such as the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals or the NSF’s 2026 10 big ideas?
4. Opportunities for education in undergraduate and graduate programs: How can INFORMS address O.R. and analytics education in emerging undergraduate and graduate degrees in data science and artificial intelligence to increase awareness of the importance of our field to the success of AI? What synergies exist with the education being offered by INFORMS members in data analytics and business analytics programs?

While we are striving to define and establish our AI strategy, we are taking action now to leverage our advocacy program to track, and where possible, engage with external forces and stakeholders in Washington that stand to have lasting impacts on AI and O.R. and analytics.

Activities in Congress and the White House are working to shape the next waves of what I call the AI ecosystem. On Feb. 11, President Trump signed an executive order establishing the American AI initiative (see https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/artificial-intelligence-american-people/) to further AI’s development and regulation.

In 2018, the Congressional Artificial Intelligence Caucus was launched in the House of Representatives to “inform policymakers of the technological, economic and social impacts of advances in AI and to ensure that rapid innovation in AI and related fields benefits Americans as fully as possible.” The caucus is co-chaired by Reps. Pete Olson (R-TX) and Jerry McNerney (D-CA), who holds a Ph.D. in mathematics. In March, Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) announced they launched the Senate Artificial Intelligence (AI) Caucus with a similar mission. Additionally, congressional committees are looking at AI across many policy areas, and other professional societies and associations are lending their voices to Congress’ efforts.

INFORMS has been meeting with these and other policymakers and senior staff members to gain insight into their planned activities around AI. We are laying the foundation for the role of O.R. and analytics in AI and fostering opportunities for INFORMS members to play a role in the coming policy debates and developments. This effort has been aided by the work of our members and great material published in our journals and ORMS Today and Analytics magazines. It will be further aided by the 2nd Annual INFORMS Government & Analytics Summit, which will take place on May 20 in the Rayburn House Office Building.

Together, with our internal focus of setting a thoughtful AI strategy for INFORMS, combined with our external advocacy and communications activities, we are taking essential steps to securing new awareness of the importance of O.R. and analytics professionals and exciting new opportunities. I welcome the chance to learn about the work you are doing related to AI and how you can help INFORMS accomplish this important mission. Please feel free to contact me at [email protected].

Reference

1. Silver, D., Schrittwieser, J., Simonyan, K., Antonoglou, I., Huang, A., Guez, A. et al., 2017, “Mastering the game of Go without human knowledge,” Nature, Vol. 550, No. 7676, pp. 354-359.

This article appears in INFORMS Analytics Collections Vol. 16: Advances in Integrating AI & O.R.

Visit this collection for free access to more articles showcasing the depth and breadth of research and applications at the intersection of AI and operations research.