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Accurate data is key to effective fleet AI use, FleetCheck warns

It said that AI would still deliver highly authoritative sounding advice, even if inaccurate data was used.

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Fleet software provider FleetCheck has warned that accurate data is key to effective use of artificial intelligence (AI) in fleet.

Peter Golding (pictured), CEO at FleetCheck, said that AI would still deliver highly authoritative sounding advice, even if inaccurate data was used.

He said that AI makes accurate precise data more important than ever.

Golding said: “We’re encountering some instances where fleets are starting to experiment with AI, which is very much to be encouraged in search of new efficiencies, but the data they are using is fundamentally flawed.

“At best, this means the output is nonsense and will be ignored by the fleet manager but, at worst, can lead to strategic errors that are expensive and even chaotic.

“The effectiveness of AI in fleet situations, especially the predicative and generative applications, depend on your information being reliable, otherwise the whole exercise becomes potentially nonsensical.

“The AI has no way of knowing your data is poor and will respond to prompts in exactly the same way as if the numbers are solid. It’s unlikely it will look at a fuel expenditure upload, for example, and tell you it looks flaky.

“The technology effectively trusts you to get it right.

“However, it’s also worth remembering that large language model are passive – they are designed to do what you ask, so, if you are unsure about data, it can be a good exercise to pose clarifying questions about anything they are unsure about.

“In many cases, this can produce a much better final result.

“There’s a temptation to tend to take it seriously for this reason – but that confidence is simply a product of the way these tools are coded, not the quality of data.

“If you then take strategic decisions based on its guidance, problems can obviously follow.

“It’s always been critical that your fleet information is dependable but AI arguably makes it more important than ever.

“These tools have significant potential, and we are increasingly using them at FleetCheck, but their limitations have to be recognised.”

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