Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K line) has started using AIplicity Chat, an artificial intelligence (AI) chat service powered by the ChatGPT API, across its offices in Japan.
More specifically, it is an AI chat service based on the Azure OpenAI Service which Microsoft offers on its Azure cloud and is provided by by Japan Business Systems. According to K Line, the company has decided to quickly introduce this service for several purposes including the streamlining of employees’ operations, encouraging the utilization of technology, supporting the implementation of duties in a secure and reassuring environment and piquing employees’ curiosity and their spirit of trying new things.
To prevent data leaks, AIplicity Chat is designed in consideration of security, K Line clarifies. For example, it does not make secondary use of the information entered. It stores the information exchanged on an internal network of offices in Japan in the Azure tenant.
Furthermore, K Line has prepared guidelines for the use of generative AI and made them accessible across the company to make its personnel aware of the risks involved in inputting and outputting data and to draw their attention to these risks.
The implementation of this software is a strategic move from K Line, considering that digitalization along with decarbonization are main trends within the maritime industry. For instance, just this month, maritime software provider Sea and Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping signed a deal for access on Sea’s intelligence and analytics tool that processes over 68.7 billion AIS data points. Meanwhile, in mid-August, ZeroNorth and Cargill entered into to a three-year contract in which ZeroNorth will become Cargill’s primary software provider for vessel and voyage optimization.
Particularly on the subject of AI, during the 2023 SMART4SEA Athens Forum, Mr. Themistoklis Sardis, IT Manager of Costamare Shipping Company S.A., described several AI applications in the shipping industry, such as the automation of cargo handling and management and the predictive maintenance of vessels.
Further on the subject of AI, Irit Singer, Chief Marketing Officer at Windwardin, explained in an exclusive interview with SAFETY4SEA that AI can perform a significant amount of the legwork in the area of reviewing prior voyages to determine the best route by tracking containers across different milestones and making recommendations in a matter of minutes.
Generally, digitalization is swiftly transforming the working environment onboard and ashore and is anticipated to keep progressing. This fact generates mixed feelings amongst stakeholders as well as workers.
For example, in a recent study conducted by DNV and the Singapore Maritime Foundation (SMF), two-thirds of seafaring officers stated that more advanced technology onboard would make their job easier. Others are hesitant in the face of roaring technology and stated that their jobs are better off manual. In any case, it remains to be seen how diverse industries and mankind as a whole will adapt to these improvements.
