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Unveiling the Black Box: Trusting AI in the Era of Cyber-Physical Systems

Posted: 09-07-2024

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The paper “Building Trust in AI-Driven Decision Making for Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS)”, an impressive joint effort between Walton Institute’s Programmable Autonomous systems (PAS) and Emerging Network Lab (ENL) Divisions, by authors Rahul Mhapsekar, Muhammad Iftikhar Umrani and Malik Faizan (PAS) and Dr Omer Ali & Dr Lizy Abraham (ENL) was recently submitted and accepted by the prestigious 29th International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation.

The paper explores the critical role of Explainable AI (XAI) in enhancing transparency and trustworthiness in AI applications across various Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) domains, and addresses challenges such as bias, security, and privacy while advocating for strategies to improve trust through understandable AI decision-making processes.

Agriculture, Autonomous Systems and Healthcare

CPS combines physical components with computational and AI capabilities to enhance efficiency and decision-making. This research explores how Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are integrated into CPS across three verticals – Agriculture, Autonomous Systems, and Healthcare.

In agriculture, AI helps farmers manage crops more effectively, potentially increasing food production to meet growing demands. In autonomous systems, such as self-driving cars and drones, AI enhances safety and efficiency. While healthcare benefits include AI-assisted diagnostics and personalized medicine, improving patient outcomes. These technologies can lead to more sustainable practices, safer transportation, and better healthcare accessibility, which directly affect individuals by enhancing quality of life and safety.

“Currently, industries are adopting AI in CPS across agriculture, autonomous systems, and healthcare. In agriculture, precision farming and smart dairy systems are utilizing AI for efficient resource management and disease detection. Autonomous systems are increasingly integrated into transportation and industrial sectors for enhanced operational capabilities and safety. In healthcare, AI-driven diagnostics and remote patient monitoring systems are improving healthcare delivery and patient outcomes,” explains Rahul Mhapsekar PhD Researcher at Walton Institute. He added, “In the future applications may expand into environmental monitoring, smart cities, and beyond, revolutionizing how industries operate and interact with technology.”

AI’s ability to handle complex, dynamic environments

Future research aims to enhance the integration of AI into CPS by addressing remaining challenges. This includes improving AI’s ability to handle complex and dynamic environments, ensuring robust cybersecurity measures, and developing more transparent AI models through XAI. Additionally, further exploration into the ethical implications and societal impacts of AI in CPS is crucial for widespread adoption and trust. Continued advancements will likely focus on refining algorithms, expanding application domains, and integrating AI with emerging technologies like IoT and Big Data.

This research was funded by VistaMilk SFI Research Centre, and CONNECT SFI Research Centre for Future Networks & Communications.