Unikie uses artificial intelligence not only to develop the technology, but also to develop the company’s own processes. “We can demonstrate to the customer through concrete action what language models are capable of,” says Niko Haatainen, Chief Technology Officer. And Haatainen has plenty of examples.
“I haven’t been so excited about anything since my youth, when you could find something new and wonderful behind every door,” says Niko Haatainen, CTO of the technology and innovation company Unikie, and you have to believe him.
Haatainen is responsible for the implementation of various artificial intelligence systems in the management of the company’s own processes and for bringing the same solutions into customers’ everyday lives.
“I got my first computer when I was eight years old, and by the time I was 15, I was already earning money from computer work. That was the beginning of a career that has included product innovation, start-ups, development and invention,” Haatainen says with a twinkle in his eye. Before Unikie, the Master of Science in Technology from Helsinki University of Technology (TKK) has gained experience from many well-known technology companies, such as Genelec, Symbio and SSH.
But now there seems to be something special at hand.
“For the first time, it feels like everything can change. Now there is a gold rush going on.”
At this point, I have to take a couple of steps back. Gold rush? It was already two years ago when the whole world was in turmoil because of ChatGPT. Shouldn’t there be a concern now that artificial intelligence did not deliver on all the promises loaded into it, but only started to consume huge amounts of electricity?
“No,” Haatainen says sharply.
“Only now are we really starting to understand what artificial intelligence and large language models are really capable of. And that’s not a little.”
Customers see concrete things
The first thing Haatainen challenges is the idea that everything done with artificial intelligence is something very expensive.
“On the contrary. The mainstream use of AI will be application of the generic models, not developing customs ones, which will save costs,” Haatainen explains and gives an example of Unikie’s own operations.
“We have an AI-based offer process that utilizes multiple language models in different roles, depending on what is most appropriate. The language model is given a description of the project at hand, and the language model makes a rough-level project description. Then the project is resourced with the help of a language model based on competence profiles, scheduled, and costs are calculated. This is how we proceed until we get an offer.”
It takes about a quarter of an hour to create an offer. With old tools, the same process can take up to a day, according to Haatainen.
“We demonstrated AI-assisted bidding in front of the customer’s eyes just this week,” he says.
Haatainen says that artificial intelligence has already been harnessed in a similar way at Unikie for the use of HR, recruitment and even business management, for example.
“We are already doing all this. Integrating artificial intelligence as part of Unikie’s own processes has been important, so that we can show the customer through concrete actions what artificial intelligence can be used for.”
Technology brought eyes, artificial intelligence brought understanding
Of course, at Unikie, a provider of intelligent software services, artificial intelligence is also strongly involved in all of its own technology areas.
“Solutions related to machine learning and machine vision already use artificial intelligence technology. Now they can be further strengthened with the help of data analytics, for example, in decision-making: What does a robot, for example, do when it identifies a living object within its range?”, Haatainen describes.
“Previously, machine vision was able to identify different objects in its environment, but after AI training, it also understands what objects in a street view really are, for example. Operating with visual models is one of the most effective features of AI systems. Modern AI Visual models understand images amazingly well.”
Unprecedented opportunities for product development
Haatainen gives drones as another use case related to device control.
“If you have to fly 30 drones in a formation to a certain place, one person can’t handle it. But through the language model, the instruction can be given: “fly the swarm in a square formation to location X, then to location Y, and when the swarm arrives, notify me’,” Haatainen says.
“The language model can be used as a user interface for the actual AI integration very effectively.”
Haatainen has plenty of more examples of the use of artificial intelligence.
“The information model of a cruise vessel contains terabytes of data, 3D images and data contents. Compiling any report in real time from a huge model is an impossible task with traditional methods. With the help of AI, data can be produced from the information model in a reformatted form, e.g. for the authorities,” Haatainen describes.
“A customer who makes steel structures needed help automating the tendering process in a somewhat similar situation. Even though the request for a quote has a library’s worth of documents attached, artificial intelligence can be used to get the first price estimate out at lightning speed.”
“We have created an advanced AI assistant for our internal use, from whom you can ask for views, comments and follow-up ideas, e.g. for sparring in sales or product management. The same can be offered to customers at some point,” Haatainen reveals at the end of the interview.
“The gold rush is underway. It pays to keep up with the pace.”
Learn more about Unikie’s offering for AI & Data Analytics
This article was originally published in Finnish in Tekniikka & Talous.
