(11b) AI-PSM: Where Are We Now?

Since ChatGPT's public debut in late 2022, the Process Safety Management (PSM) community has shown increasing interest in Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a vehicle for capturing our company data as well as leveraging the accumulated knowledge of the entire industry. While Machine Learning (ML) applications in process safety aren't new—with years of research presented at the CCPS “Global Conference on Process Safety and Big Data,”—the advent of large language models with chat-style interfaces has now brought AI within easy reach of non-experts.

In the past year, I've administered the “AI-PSM” LinkedIn group, a platform for professionals to exchange AI experiences and insights in PSM. These discussions, initially seeming like isolated data points, have been analyzed using Prof. Thomas Malone’s (MIT) “4 Roles of AI” framework.

The tension in organizations regarding AI's unchecked usage in process safety is palpable, with a push and pull between leveraging AI for efficiency gains and avoiding potential safety risks. Malone’s model offers a lens to discern “safer” from riskier AI roles.

This paper delves into the prevailing sentiments about AI among AI-PSM group members, clarified through Malone’s model, providing a structured perspective on the integration of AI in the PSM field, and the leveraging of globally accumulated knowledge.