The group officially launched November 8, at an IBM-hosted workshop in Australia. GMG said the topic has received extensive support from both its members and industry stakeholders seeking an open forum to discuss mining applications of AI as week as the growth of the technology's use.

"Ultimately, the working group intends to create a greater understanding of AI and its applications in mining and promote increased openness to enable companies to adopt AI technologies safely and effectively," GMG said. "It will be a community of interest on the topic, bringing together operators, AI experts from inside and outside the mining industry, and other mining stakeholders."

AI group leader Mark O'Brien added that mining can gain a lot from AI-based innovation, as it is just beginning to recognise it as an opportunity to improve operational efficiency.

"[The industry] is still missing a clear understanding of how mainstream technologies (such as facial recognition, scene detection, voice recognition) translate to industrial settings," he said.

"The truth is, most of us don't really know much about or truly understand what AI actually is. Some companies have already dabbled but have stepped back from further work because they've been disappointed by outcomes from initial investments."

The working group's focus will be three-fold: to educating the industry on what AI is (and is not) and define common terminology; to document successful AI applications with use cases, identifying limitations or failures where appropriate; and to make AI technologies accessible providing clarity about requirements AI deployments. Once launched, the group will form a steering committee to refine the scope and objectives and identify early projects.

Some other GMG groups include asset management, autonomous mining, data access and usage, short interval control and interoperability. GMG members include mining companies, OEMs, OTMs, research organizations and consultants worldwide.