Internal Only my.asq.org discussion tread Discussion: AI Tools to support QMS
Reference for the ASQ Boulder CO USA 22 Aug 2024 on-line meeting
Main Question: (26 Jul 2024)
Curious how other companies are using AI applications as a tool to support QMS activities (internal audits, document management, data analysis, reporting, calibration, training programs, etc.).
I'd also like to hear how you are encouraging employees to take advantage of this powerful tool without letting them "turn off their brains."
Main Response 1: (26 Jul 2024)
Telecommunications design and manufacturing company and my team is responsible for our corporate quality management system.
We have an enterprise license for an AI application which can pull information external to our company, but it also ensures our data remains secure.
Some of our employees have found it quite useful in general applications like drafting communications, presentations, and documents.
However, the real eye opener came when we entered the information from an audit finding and asked for containment actions, root cause analysis, corrective actions, and preventive actions.
Within ~30 seconds it provided a pretty thorough response for all of those items.
Reactions ranged from "wow – this is great" to "uh-oh – people are going to stop thinking and copy/paste the AI response into their CAPAs.
It certainly seems to be a great tool for many applications, as long as it's used as a resource to support activities and not as the "final answer".
Other Question (29 Jul 2024)
Curious what AI tools may exist to support our efforts, for instance, procedure structuring and writing given a known set of inputs, a template, end goal, etc.
There are other tools, like QA Macros, but they are MS Excel suites that assist in simple SPC, charting, etc.
If you learn of anything, please send this my way, as I am definitely curious.
Other Response: (29 Jul 2024)
The following response to your question about drafting procedures was generated by Copilot.
1. SweetProcess: This tool allows you to write procedures automatically using AI. It simplifies the process by guiding you through the steps, helping you create clear and effective documentation. You can even use their new AI tool to speed up procedure management1.
2. Claude AI: Developed by Anthropic, Claude is an AI writing assistant that generates content closely resembling human writing. It can be a valuable resource for creating consistent and engaging procedures2.
3. Other AI Writing Tools: Beyond procedure-specific tools, there are general AI writing tools that can enhance your content. These tools automate aspects like grammar checking, vocabulary enhancement, and proofreading. Some popular ones include ChatGPT, Eddy AI, and AI Contentfy.
Main Response 2: (29 Jul 2024)
use Copilot within Microsoft Edge and in some cases within Microsoft applications (PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Outlook, and Teams).
If you have that application available, there will be a blue stylish "O" icon displayed in the upper right corner in your Edge browser window.
It is set up to ensure our data remains secure and is not shared with other AI users outside of our company.
If you don't have an Enterprise Gen AI solution set up at your company, you can try ChatGpt or other Gen AI applications to help create drafts of procedures or instructions and creating reports or summarizing from data.
Just keep in mind that the information provided may be made available to other Gen AI users outside of your company.
Gen AI applications can provide a good initial draft, but probably not the final answer.
Main Response 3: (29 Jul 2024)
Using AI tools to provide a framework for SOPs on general topics like CAPA, Supplier Management and Internal Audits.
However, still to find a "finished" product by using this tool. still need to go through the proposal and adapt it to the reality of the organization.
There will always be an employee that will rely heavily on the tool that make his life "simpler"
but there is always the need of human criteria to confirm the proposal is accurate and will serve the purpose.
For example, for CAPAs and Audit findings the root cause will need to be confirmed and sustained by objective evidence as the cause.
There will always need to be human interaction to close out the items as well.
The use of tools to support the execution of QMS tasks is not prohibited, however, you do need to ensure that they are consistent in the delivery of compliant products and sustain the QMS in a compliant manner as well.
Main Response 4: (29 Jul 2024)
Gen AI is to be used as a resource or as a tool, but not as the only source of information
and people should not rely too heavily on it.
In addition, information generated by Gen AI applications is not always correct.
Main Response 5: (29 Jul 2024)
Companies create pretty cool training videos using AI along with using it to compile information from statistics gathered during investigation.
Like any AI generated information, it always needs to be reviewed for accuracy and completeness.
Using it as a start for CAPA is not a bad thing at all, in my opinion.
CGPT programs are like having a lot of people in the room to brainstorm.
It is gathering information from many contributors out there in its database.
When it comes to brainstorming, a "more is better" approach is usually welcomed.
But also like any brainstorming, you only select the ideas that make the most sense.
As long as they don't use it and leave it "as is", it could help for sure.
Main Response 6: (30 Jul 2024)
AI scope is much more than ChatGPT and the low cost generative AI tools.
Use AI because all the people are using (fashion) is not the better way.
The real question shouldn't be what AI we are using... instead, all of us should ask ourselves next questions in order to realize if we need AI and what AI tool we need:
1. What are the internal processes (in the QMS or other part of the company) that have improvement opportunities?
2. Do we have DATA of these processes? (Remember, AI only uses the data to give us answers or automate activities.). Data could be text, measurements, pictures, etc.
3. If we have the data and there is an improvement opportunity, how much is this improductivity or extra cost? With this information, we monetize the problems.
4. How much is the company willing to invest to reduce those extra costs?
Today in the market, there are companies that:
1. Already have AI tools for specific problems (logistics, inventories, human resources, production efficiency, etc.).
2. Develop custom AI tools.
Company could guide you in this process to find the real needs and the right AI tools.
Main Response 7: (30 Jul 2024)
In the early clinical space (Phase 1/2) and we utilize common tools such as ChatGPT as well as bespoke LLM/AI platforms.
Where find usage most often is in idea creation and brainstorming sessions or to get past writers block when authoring a procedure or similar.
Our bespoke platform permit document uploads so we will summarize large reports.
Starting to use these technologies to author clinical protocols and similar document types.
Use it when creating audit agendas, procedure authoring, document summaries, and similar.
find that these tools help to get started and then the human component runs it the rest of the way.
Main Response 8: (30 Jul 2024)
AI tools are exactly that - tools to help us make things easier.
Tools currently use: LLMs (ChatGPT, Claude, or Poe) for writing emails/ideas and exploring risks (similar to what you highlighted).
Meeting note takers (Zoom, Otter.ai, Fathom).
Video tools: (Loom, Snagit).
Project Management: Wrike has built-in AI tools for summarizing long communication threads, writing project plans, and flagging risky deadlines.
favorite is to have LLMs ask questions to explore a topic deeper.
Main Response 9: (31 Jul 2024)
Perplexity AI tool to better understand the construction control process and procedures.
Oftentimes, the process and procedures of construction vary widely from contractor to contractor.
the AI tool provides the sequential understanding in a more generic manner.
Use AI tools to better understand the definition of quality technical words.
Perplexity AI tool is a good tool overall but will not replace a human defined set procedure standards of the construction industry from material selection, special inspections and so on.
Main Response 10: (1 Aug 2024)
only significant use AI tool have for it is the analysis and summarization of text data such as that from employee or customer surveys.
That said, currently investigating the use of a service that uses AI to analyze video.
The primary market is safety, but looking at it to collect data on quality-related human behaviors as well.
Main Response 11: (1 Aug 2024)
On project to use AI and data science to categorize all of our warranty claims for top driver reports.
Sounds a lot simpler than it is.
Discovered during the process that the original categorizations we were using had evolved over time to something that had significant overlap and were no longer useful for the users of the data.
Had to create a simpler, better defined categorization system to meet the user's needs and improve the effectiveness of the program.
Benefits of the program will be:
1. Reallocate three people to more proactive Quality activities
2. Remove the delays of categorizing the data (currently up to two weeks delay)
3. Drive consistency of categorization for better data analysis
Now at the point that we have enough data with the new categories to teach the program and will be running it on August data.
We will evaluate the accuracy and use the error corrections to improve the data model.
Our goal is to have 80% of all claims require no human intervention to categorize the data.
DONE (6 Aug 2024)