As a loyal Georgia Bulldog, it stings a bit to have to admit how much rival university, the Georgia Institute of Technology, is leading and contributing to the advancement of practical uses for Artificial Intelligence (AI), in a wide array of settings and industries.
The Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute recently organized and partnered with dozens of middle and high schools, technical and trade schools, other colleges and universities, and numerous private sector partners to celebrate Georgia Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing (AIM) Week across the state.
The week, and three years’ worth of programs and pilot initiatives, were made possible by a $65-million federal grant, intended to expand the adoption of AI across the manufacturing sector. Judging by their results and the stops along the way of this statewide tour, they have been achieving some pretty solid results.
From Carrollton to Albany, and from Athens and Augusta to Macon and Savannah, and LaGrange and Fort Valley, Georgia, AIM made strides at reaching all corners and 159 counties in Georgia.
At Southwire in Carrollton, for instance, 100 middle school students are learning to write code to create music with AI. At Albany Technical College, this Georgia AIM Week stop highlighted blockchain data applications and innovation in hydroponics and aquaponics, shaping the future of agri-business.
As this tour coincided with the announcement of nearly a half-billion dollars in additional federal disaster recovery funding for post-Hurricane Helene devastation, many farmers across Southwest Georgia are still rebuilding from that natural disaster a year ago. Albany is the pecan capital of the world, and thousands of pecan trees were uprooted and destroyed, leaving decades until new trees and seedlings reach maturity.
But even there, Georgia AIM found ways to assist. Alex Willson, president and CEO of one of the nation’s largest pecan farms, Sunnyland Farms, found the fast-rising costs of free shipping were eating a bigger and bigger bite out of company profits each year.
Reaching seven figures and using older technology, the third-generation family business was a bit unclear about who all of their customers were, what they typically ordered, and their costs of shipping to those same customers, which remain much more profitable than the wholesale and market resale of pecans.
“We really didn’t have a detailed view of exactly where boxes were going, and how much it was costing us. We wanted a more granular view of that, and it’s challenging for a business our size because we have people that are stretched fairly thin,” Sunnyland President and CEO Alex Willson said.
Through Georgia AIM’s Rural Supply Chain Initiative, a Georgia Tech undergraduate, Arpita Gupte, worked at Sunnyland for 3 months as a Georgia AIM-funded intern. During that time, she organized all of the company’s shipping data using ChatGPT.This allowed analysis of shipping data spreadsheets, uncovering insights into package sizes, average box shipping weights, shipping zones, etc.
This armed Sunnyland with data to compare rates and negotiate with all the major shippers with confidence. The result was a reduction of shipping costs by several hundred thousand dollars, and faster shipping for Sunnyland customers.
“We know that we have a challenge today with workforce and workforce development, so this is an opportunity to change that through partnerships and coalitions, as well as investments from the private sector,” saidDonna Ennis, co-director of Georgia AIM and an associate vice president for Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute.
Georgia Tech has also found that building such a broad array of partnerships, as well as increasing the college's visibility, has helped secure even more corporate support. Tech’s School of Mechanical Engineering recently received a donor estate gift of $ 100 million.
The Hyundai Motor Group is paying Tech $55 million over several years for the naming rights to Bobby Dodd Stadium, as well as funding an undisclosed amount for roughly a dozen other research projects at Tech in areas such as new electric-vehicle technologies and the use of hydrogen as a clean fuel.
By sharing its wealth of AI knowledge, partners, and initiatives, Georgia Tech is planting seeds, which should grow rapidly in Georgia's fertile farm soil, or perhaps via hydroponics, peach farmers will have an opportunity to learn more about both at Fort Valley State and tour both the Georgia AIM traveling lab and the Fort Valley State Fab Lab.
It seems that much like a pollinating honeybee, the technology shared by those Yellowjackets can pack quite a punch.