Tools for the Future, Today Capitalizing on VR, AR, and AI.

• Author: Barbour, Tracy
• Position: TELECOM & TECH

Virtual reality (VR) was supposed to be the next big thing in the early '90s. Then the World Wide Web happened, and VR was sidelined for almost thirty years. Now, the technology to immerse users in a simulated setting is the next, next big thing, rebranded in some quarters as the "metaverse," which blends innovations in hardware, networking, and artificial intelligence (AI).

VR's sleeker and more pragmatic sister technology, augmented reality (AR), blends digital elements into the real world; it projects information on top of what the user is already seeing. The most familiar example is the 2016 game Pokemon Go, which superimposed imaginary creatures onto the environment viewed through a smartphone screen. AR, VR, and AI have since graduated beyond their initial uses in gaming and entertainment to much broader business applications.

For example, AR is being combined with excavator systems that use cameras mounted on heavy equipment to visually drape what is being built on top of what is there at the job site. This enables the operator to work more accurately, efficiently, quickly--and safely.

By 2024, more than 50 percent of user interface interactions will use Al-enabled computer vision, speech, and natural language processing, as well as AR and VR, according to market researcher International Data Corporation (IDC). And IDC predicts that at least 90 percent of new enterprise apps will embed Al by 2025.

"Al and machine learning have applicability in a wide variety of industries, from cybersecurity to fisheries management, and have solutions for business processes," says Alaska Developers Alliance Executive Director Andre Andrews. "AR and VR are innovations that can enhance the user experience and have changed how people might interact with products and people in the future."

Al, VR, and AR can be particularly useful in Alaska. "A key benefit for any technology relevant to Alaska is in removing the need to travel--or if travel is needed, to know exactly why and what is needed to reduce the possibility of multiple trips-and to reduce the time onsite and maximize the value of the time spent," says Daniel Sawyer, a principal consultant at Computer Task Group (CTG). "Advancements in technology such as Al and visualization through VR and AR can help meet the challenge in efficiency of identification, diagnosis, planning, and execution of work."

There's an obvious benefit to using VR for employee training. Sawyer, who specializes in deploying cost-efficient technology with a focus on user workflow to increase business productivity, says. "An immersive environment can be desirable to place the user in various scenarios and significantly improves knowledge retention over simple computer-based training."

Learning Simulators

Virtual training has existed in some form since the first flight simulators of the 1920s. From a barrel rigged with sticks and wires to the...