We’ve all seen Artificial Intelligence (AI) envisioned in popular fiction, from 2001: A Space Odyssey to Ex-Machina. However, AI is no longer the stuff of science fiction, nor only synonymous with robots. The reality is that right now, some form of AI is most likely working in your favorite application or service. From digital assistants to self-driving cars, AI is moving into every sphere of human activity and doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon.
In this series, titled “Exploring A.I.”, we’ll be discussing what AI is exactly as well as exploring business challenges and opportunities across different industries. Our aim is to demystify the concept of artificial intelligence while highlighting several real life applications for AI that you may already be using today.
So, What is AI?
So we know it’s not robots taking over the world… yet; but the lines are still blurry of what it is exactly. Part of those blurred lines stem from using the terms Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning interchangeably. AI is defined as the “theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.” It is also considered the actual machine that is intelligent and improves as people use it. Machine Learning is the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed and Deep Learning is a ML process where the AI learns and discovers on its own, creating its own rules in order to solve any problem domain.
If that seems a little heady don’t worry. This series is dedicated to delving into the real life business use cases for AI across the industries below; some of which you may be interacting with today, you just didn’t know it!
“Artificial Intelligence is the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.”
Auto
Autonomous cars appear to be the loudest voice in AI these days. With more than 30 companies making significant investments and progress towards its advancement, its the perfect display of AI’s usefulness in everyday life. The feature set of these autonomous cars is impressive, from helping their drivers with everything from parallel parking to managing maintenance and making life saving decisions on the road. As their technology and interconnectivity advances, they could be able to make smarter decisions that could potentially eliminate common driving annoyances like traffic as well as keep drivers safer.
Retail
From customer service to automated design, AI is has the potential to take retail experiences to new heights. Current implementations of AI focus on merely suggesting new purchase choices based on your purchase history or what you previously viewed. In our near future, your purchase behavior could be used to completely influence the next line of products.
Finance
We already reap the benefits of AI in our financial lives when it detects possible fraudulent purchases. We are also starting to see financial institutions leverage Machine Learning to predict stock market trends. The bots are cheaper than stock-picking humans. They’re less emotional and more disciplined and they can process more information at once.
Health Care
HealthCare will see the most prominent applications of ML and AI. From curing diseases, to wearable technology, to providing more accurate diagnostics, ML and AI are being used to empower people to live healthier lives and make healthier decisions.
The Arts
It’s becoming harder to distinguish whether humans or machines created a piece of art or music thanks to AI and DL. AI generating new art goes beyond making cool images, we will be able to use AI to generate things like support structures that not only use the least amount of material possible, but that also have optimum structural integrity. While these structures are currently primarily used as art pieces, they may be used in anything from buildings to cars.
There are several other industries where AI is making waves and according to Randy Dean, chief business officer at Sentient Technologies, “The sooner we can turn on business leaders to the possibilities of how AI could help them, the faster the market can grow. Ultimately, that optimization of costs, products and services will benefit all of humanity.”
“The sooner we can turn on business leaders to the possibilities of how AI could help them, the faster the market can grow. Ultimately, that optimization of costs, products and services will benefit all of humanity.” Randy Dean, chief business officer at Sentient Technologies
Stay tuned for a more in-depth exploration of the impacts of artificial intelligence in business.
