Splash247: Artificial intelligence versus authentic relationships

Carl Martin Faannessen, CEO of Noatun Maritime, is in two minds when it comes to AI and crewing.

A ship has a personality, or so many would like us to believe. This is fine – humans have bestowed personalities on inanimate objects since our first trembles on two legs.

What many fail to consider is that we also let this flow the other way. What is a management system but an attempt to shape human behaviour to be as consistent as that of a machine?

Now we have decided that many of our problems can be reduced or removed by applying artificial intelligence, in lieu of the real one. Yet again we are taking a machine and using that to drive greater consistency and predictability. Also this time we are bestowing human-like attributes to the technology.

This will come to the maritime world, as seen at Crew Connect in Manila recently. In our own dabbles here at Noatun Maritime, we have seen that in its nascent state AI is a better crew planner than 90% of all crewing staff (not ours, obviously!) With a bit of feedback, AI attains a planning level that is beyond most human operators. Add a chat functionality, and what’s stopping AI from taking on more and more crewing tasks?

I’m of two minds on this.

One part of me says that seafarers and their families prefer a human connection. The ability to talk about family, contracts, events, plans, life onboard, and so on help build connective tissue between the seafarer and the crew manager and shipowner. This tissue is not built at an annual conference; it is built in countless day-to-day interactions.

Another part of me says that an AI will never shake down a seafarer for money. That manning agent offering low fees and minimum wages to their staff is content to look the other way as seafarers are being asked to pay for their assignments. This happens in the industry, and many of us are fighting this tooth and claw wherever we find it. I have myself fired people for this in prior roles. Would this integrity from AI be enough to persuade seafarers to prefer AI interactions over human ones?

And there I balance. An AI will never ask a seafarer for money, but an AI also will not build the connective tissue that fosters loyalty and understanding. What does the community here have to say about this?