co-founder Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak—signed an open letter asking all AI labs to pause training of newer, powerful AI systems for at least six months, citing “profound risks to society and humanity.” Then, in May, more than 350 scientists, tech in - dustry executives, and public figures— including the leaders from top AI firms OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Microsoft, and Anthropic—signed a one-sentence statement, released by the Center for AI Safety, with a dire warning: “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pan- demics and nuclear war.” Thankfully, many of the AI tools and ser- vices that are useful to aerial adventure businesses aren’t that threatening. ADVENTURING IN AI With all that it can do, what AI can’t do is get on the phone with aerial adventure industry leaders and identify what oper-
ators should and should not be thinking about as they head into the new world of artificial intelligence. For that advice, API spoke with Michael Smith, president of consultancy firm AdventureSmith based in Rochester Hills, Mich.; Lori Stover, coordinator of the Outdoor Adventures Wellness and Recreation program at North Carolina State University; and Kurt Damron, CEO of Highlands Aerial Park in Scaly Mountain, N.C. All three have been exploring the benefits and pitfalls of AI for adventure parks and other aerial adventure operations. Stover says that while AI has gained significant notice in the past year, many businesses have already been using tools with various AI features without necessarily recognizing them as such. For instance, email providers such as Gmail use AI algorithms to filter out spam and prioritize important email, and banks and financial institutions use
AI algorithms to detect unusual trans- actions. AI also informs virtual voice as- sistants like Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant, and streaming services like Netflix use AI to make recommenda - tions based on users’ past preferences and behaviors. Smith says he began using AI features nearly five years ago for marketing intelligence. For example, sales reports can be downloaded from a point-of- sale or e-commerce engine, and then plugged into an AI tool that produces a three-dimensional map with sales data categorized by zip code and by month, which Smith used to inform where to run ad campaigns. So, AI tools aren’t exactly new. “I think what’s changing with that is AI is becom- ing more accessible to more people,” Smith says. THE BENEFITS There are boundless ways to integrate AI. Let’s examine a few of them. >> cont.
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