Showcase for Commerce: Experts explore food security, artificial intelligence 'arms race'

Dave Sutor, The Tribune-Democrat, Johnstown, Pa.
·2 min read

Jun. 2—JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Three different panel discussions delved deep into subjects as diverse as tracking the quantity of berries on vines, marketing products based on algorithms and using military hardware on the battlefield during Showcase for Commerce's afternoon presentations on Thursday.

Participants explored the subjects of "The AI Arms Race for Supremacy — The Time to Act is Now," "Current/Future Technology Needs in the Agriculture Industry" and "Ground Vehicle Modernization Challenges."

It was the first time a panel format was used, as opposed to having individual speakers, for the annual briefings held inside the Frank J. Pasquerilla Conference Center in downtown Johnstown.

"Generally, isn't it cool that we have these major experts coming in to talk to us about three different topics?" said Linda Thomson, president of Johnstown Area Regional Industries, which co-organizes the Showcase. "I think the topics are different enough and kind of diverse enough that it appeals to a lot of different people. We just literally went with this concept this year to try it out, and I think it went well."

Part of the agriculture discussion addressed the connection between food supplies and technology developed by the military.

"Food security is national security," said Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Vice President Tommy Nagle, of Patton.

"I mean they go hand-in-hand. It didn't work well for Napoleon when they ran out of food in Russia. I'm being realistic. If you have a population of people that are fed and not hungry, you have a stable population."

The broad-reaching and constantly evolving nature of artificial intelligence was explored.

"If you ask 10 different colleagues their definition of AI, you're going to get 10 different answers, so there's no right definition for 'artificial intelligence,'" said Tom Goode, a statistical analyst with RAND Corp.

Dr. Ronald Poropatich, director of the Center for Military Medicine Research, Health Sciences and professor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, said, "Solving tasks is what this (artificial intelligence) is all about."

Looking to the future, Poropatich predicted that, with AI's impact, "Some tasks will be completely automated. Some of them will be transformed. Some will be even better than what we do now. And some are going to be unaffected."

Defense contracting, the main focus of Showcase, was discussed during the ground vehicle panel, including work being done locally.

"There's certainly a great defense business here in Johnstown," said JWF Defense Systems Chief Operating Officer John Polacek, a retired Marine.

Polacek said that from May 2022 to May of this year, JWF delivered 200 completed vehicles.

"It just gives you a real feeling of satisfaction every time you see a vehicle go off that line and head up to our Windber plant, getting ready to be deployed," Polacek said.