WHEN the Selangor government launched its Smart Selangor blueprint four years ago, not many realised that it was a game changer.
Being a progressive state, Selangor is poised to take its development to greater heights with this initiative, although it is impeded by slow growth as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Selangor has spelt out a vision that aims to foster greater economic growth, sustainable value creation and high quality of life by leveraging Internet of Things (IoT) solutions in improving the quality of life of its people, in line with urbanisation, besides aspiring to transform Selangor into a world-class smart state.
Yes, IoT can help the state or any country achieve this. At the rate IoT is moving, it'll change the landscape of how we think, work, play and learn in just a matter of years. In some advanced countries, it's already happening.
IoT is a technology that helps us reimagine our life. Behind IoT's efficacy, artificial intelligence (AI) is the driving force behind the myriad IoT applications we have today. From the most basic applications to track our fitness levels to the wide-reaching potential across industries and urban planning, the growing partnership between AI and IoT means a smarter future is closer than we think.
With the combined strengths of AI and IoT, the future looks promising. What these technologies present to mankind next is that they will be the superpowers of innovation as they continuously learn about our needs, wants and behaviours.
There are more IoT devices today that use the Internet to communicate, collect and exchange information about our online activities than a year ago. Information is collected every second from our social media posts, from the food we ate at a swanky restaurant to our purchase of a pair of sneakers online to information on terrorist activities.
According to Cisco, a networking hardware conglomerate headquartered in California, the United States, IoT devices generate one billion gigabytes of data daily.
By 2025, Cisco predicts there will be 42 billion IoT-connected devices globally. With the wave IoT is creating now, the number of these devices will consequentially increase.
The swath of data will grow, too. That's where AI steps in, lending its learning capabilities to the connectivity of IoT.
I have come to learn through reading technology websites and blogs that IoT is empowered by three key emerging technologies—AI, 5G networks and Big Data.
AI is made of programmable functions and systems that enable devices to learn, reason and process information like humans, while 5G networks, fifth-generation mobile networks, provide high-speed, near-zero lag for real-time data processing. Then, there's BigData, enormous volumes of data processed from numerous Internet-connected sources.
Together, these interconnected devices are transforming the way we interact at home and at work, creating the AIoT, or Artificial Intelligence of Things, in the process. Tech experts say we will see AIoT making an impact on four areas: wearables, smart homes, smart industries and smart cities.
Experts say wearable devices will have an impact on health technology, picking up from how smart watches have benefited sportsmen and fitness freaks.
Smart watches in the future will be able to monitor a person's health in real time and even alert robotic paramedics to his aid when he falls sick.
Future smart homes will respond to every request by homeowners, not just with appliances, lighting, electronic devices and more. They will also be able to learn a homeowner's habits and develop automated support.
In smart industries, total digital transformation with real-time data analytics and supply-chainsensors will be common, from manufacturing to mining, boosting production efficiency and reducing human error.
Cities will evolve into safer and more convenient places to live when they adopt super smart public safety, transport and energy efficiency. Case in point is Singapore, which has begun implementing smart city initiatives.
For a start, Singapore has tested autonomous public buses to ply the island nation's roads.
I wonder if I'd live long enough to see smart initiatives materialise in our country. And I'm not talking about the "flying car project" that has gotten Malaysians excited for the wrong reasons.
C'est la vie.
The writer, a former NST journalist, is now a film scriptwriter whose penchant is finding new food haunts in the country