Is artificial intelligence coming for your job? Peninsula experts representing health care, maritime and higher education shared their views on the use of AI in their fields and how it will evolve.
“Yeah, AI is going to take your job,” Newport News Shipbuilding Chief Technology Officer Brian Fields said. “But it also may change your job path to a more meaningful role or help you be more effective.”
Fields, Riverside Health Chief Nursing Information Officer Meg Atkins and Old Dominion University Senior Associate Vice President for Digital Innovation Chrysoula Malogianni took part Thursday in a panel discussion for the Virginia Peninsula Chamber’s “Harnessing AI for Hampton Roads’ Future” program at the Holiday Inn near City Center at Oyster Point.
They addressed guarding against security issues, maintaining data accuracy, advocating for data literacy and preparing workforces for changing roles or jobs that don’t currently exist.
The shipyard, in operation for over a century, is developing an AI tool it calls Dorothy (a nod to the first ship built there) to improve efficiency and safety. The ChatGPT-like tool can help employees search materials, such as safety manuals, and improve processes.
Newport News Shipbuilding, a division of HII, also invested in software to optimize shop work. The tool analyzes data such as labor schedules, materials and available resources to bring more efficiency to shipbuilding.
“We’re learning so fast right now,” he said. “About 6,000 people a day use Dorothy.”
Riverside implemented ambient AI tools, Atkins said, to reduce the cognitive burden on technicians and allow for better in-person interactions. AI is used to listen to patient-clinician interactions and produce notes, which reduces documentation burden on the provider while maintaining data collection. Atkins said the feedback ranged from “life-changing” to “it gave me my passion for medicine back.”
Riverside also uses AI tools to analyze data sets to help determine best medications or treatments for patients and improve outcomes and revenue capture, Atkins said.
“It needs to have strategic implementation,” she said. “You have to make sure the team, patients, and community understand how you’re using AI. … The clinician is still the final decision point, even with AI tools.”
ODU recently announced a partnership with Google to introduce MonarchSphere, an AI incubator, that will serve as a national higher education model to aid student advisement and course development and accelerate research, Malogianni said.
Powered by Google Cloud, the incubator is upscaling AI literacy internally and for ODU partners. It is testing uses in a secure environment as microcredentials and certificates are developed, Malogianni said.
“AI is advancing quickly. Our goal is to train people how to implement AI now,” she said. “… We’re all end-users when it comes to AI.”
ODU is scaling adaptation, Malogianni said. Advisers have had more meaningful interactions with students since adapting AI to planning career pathways, using available data as a guide.
“Research is accelerating to allow its impact to be implemented faster,” Malogianni said.
The younger workforce expects to use AI, Fields said, adding nearly 200 summer interns asked on Day 1 how AI was being used.
“Students need practical AI skills. We’re creating and changing jobs to embed AI at the shipyard,” Fields said. “…We need to stay agile to stay relevant.”
Trust but verify
All panelists were clear that transparency and governance are key.
Trust but verify, Atkins said, when dealing with data and AI. Riverside created an AI committee to work through data sets and issues, and identify trusted vendors and resources when it comes to AI implementation.
“You have to keep humans in the loop,” Fields said. “It’s not magic. Discipline is needed to understand processes and ensure it’s right.”
There are many factors, Malogianni said, in choosing appropriate models for appropriate uses, and keeping propriety and confidential information secure.
“Without proper data governance,” she said, “you have nothing.”
Education also is a big challenge, Atkins said. In health care, where staffing shortages and burnouts are an issue, adding education courses can make it hard to keep up. Helping employees adapt to AI, which may make their jobs obsolete, and adjust to new roles is a challenge that will require education and skills training.
“AI will be embedded in almost everything you use. Employees need to understand how to use those tools, and expectations need to be clear,” Fields said. “We have to prepare people today so they don’t fall behind.”
Malogianni agreed. “We have to prepare local talent for emerging roles,” she said. “This area can lead.”
‘Reality in our backyard’
Attendee Charlie O’Brien of 757 Collab said he hopes to see collaboration on AI ideas and tools across industries to better develop strategies, improve education and make use of MonarchSphere.
He pointed out members of AI Collective Hampton Roads in attendance. The group started in the spring to bring together students, professionals and AI enthusiasts.
Also in attendance was Christopher Newport University professor David Conner, who shared the School of Engineering and Computing is implementing AI literacy in its curriculum. A Science and Engineering Research Center is slated to open on campus in the spring, and Conner said they hope to host an event to introduce the community to the program.
“We’re seeing AI move from concept to reality in our backyard,” Chamber President and CEO Bob McKenna said to open the presentation, adding communities that can support and attract data centers, which require high energy use, will be the backbone for AI innovation and creating higher-wage jobs.
“The demand for that talent is here,” Fields said. “NASA, manufacturing, the shipyard — a lot of needs (for AI) are here. We have to invest in it to attract talent. … The need is going to be more concentrated here than anywhere else.”
