Most people still picture science fiction dystopias when the term artificial intelligence is mentioned, but this outlookhas seen an exponential decrease as artificial intelligence evolves and becomes more and more widespread in our daily lives.
Although the acceptance of artificial intelligence is a new phenomenon in mainstream society, it is not a new concept. In 1956, we developed and brought Artificial Intelligence into existence, but decades have gone by to develop an Artificial Intelligence system and make it a technological reality.
Artificial intelligence has a wide range of uses. In fact, in some way or another, most of us engage on a daily basis with artificial intelligence. Virtually every business process in every sector already has been disrupted by artificial intelligence, from the ordinary to the incredible. With the achievement of hardware capability to run artificial intelligence technologies, they are fast becoming a necessity for businesses that want to remain competitive.
What is artificial intelligence?
It is important to define the concept of artificial intelligence before we start to consider how artificial intelligence technologies impact the business world. "Artificial intelligence" refers to any type of computer software involved in humane activities such as learning, planning and solving problems. To call certain applications"Artificial intelligence", is like calling a Honda Civic a "vehicle," although it is technically correct, it just scratches the surface. We have to dig deeper to grasp the predominant use of artificial intelligence in industry.
Machine learning
Machine learning is one of today's most common forms of artificial intelligence in business use. Machine learning is used mainly for rapid processing of massive quantities of data. This form of artificial intelligence uses algorithms that over time tend to "learn" from their mistakes and to enhance their outputs with each turn. The more data that is provided to these algorithms, the better these machine algorithms are able to perform. Machine learning is useful to put large amounts of data into a digestible context for humans. This is data that has been generated by connected devices and the Internet of Things.
As an example,the machinery in most production plants is connected to a network, this can be a wired or wireless, local or wide area network. These connected devices feed a constant supply of data into a central location, which tells the control unit about their functionality, production and other performance parameters. This, unfortunately, is a rather humongous amount of data for a human to ever look at coherently, and even if they could, the chances of them seeing less than obvious patterns are quite miniscule. Machine learning can quickly analyze data, detect patterns and anomalies in the data and help the decision makers make a more informed decision. With the use of a machine learning algorithm, a system can detect and inform decision-makers that it is time to send a prevention maintenance team if a machine is working at reduced capacity at a manufacturing plant.
Even machine learning, however, is also a relatively broad category. The development of artificial neural networks, an interconnected web of "nodes" in artificial intelligence, has led to what is known as "deep learning."
Deep learning
Deep learning is an even more specific version of machine learning which uses neural networks for nonlinear reasoning. Deep learning is necessary to perform more advanced functions, such as detecting fraud. This can be achieved by evaluating a vast array of variables at once. For starters, many factors need to be identified, evaluated and responded to the same time for self-driving cars to be able to work. Deep learning algorithms are used to help self-driving cars contextualize information that their sensors gather, such as the distance from other objects, the speed at which they travel, and a prediction of where they will be in 5-10 seconds. All this information,when calculated simultaneously, helps a self-driving car make simple yet crucial driving decisions such as when to change lanes.
Deep learning has a lot of promise for business applications and will probably be used a lot more in the future. While earlier developed machine learning algorithms tend to plateau after a certain amount of data has been processed by them, deep learning models are continuously improving their efficiency as more data is provided to them. This capability makes deep learning models far more scalable and detailed, and even more independentyou could say.
Artificial intelligence and business today
Artificial intelligence is generally considered as a supporting resource, rather than a substitute for human intelligence. Artificial intelligence is currently struggling to complete common tasks in the real world, but it is capable of processing and analyzing data troves much faster than a human. Artificial intelligence software may then return to the human user with synthesized course of action. This allows humans to use artificial intelligence to help in the creation and simplification of decision-making.
Amir Husain, founder and CEO of the SparkCognition Machine Learning Corporation, said "Artificial Intelligence is kind of the second coming of software." "It's a type of software which makes its own decisions, even in circumstances not foreseen by programmers, and act of them. Artificial intelligence has a wider latitude for decision-making than traditional software." Those features make artificial intelligence a valuable investment and asset for many industries, across a range of functions. These can be as simple as guiding visitors around a new campus, or complex functions such as monitoring machinery like wind turbines constantly and predicting maintenance schedules.Artificial intelligence is even an indispensable ally when it comes to looking for holes in computer network defenses, Husain said.
"You really can't have enough cybersecurity experts to look at these problems, because of scale and increasing complexity," he said. "Artificial intelligence is playing an increasing role here as well."
In addition, customer relationship management (CRM) systems are evolving by the use of artificial intelligence. Applications such as Salesforces and Zoho needs a human operator to keep it up-to-date and reliable. However, the standard CRM system is transformed into a self-updated, automated program that is on top of your relationship management, with the use artificial knowledge on these platforms
The financial sector is another example of the adaptability of artificial intelligence. Dr Hossein Rahnama, founder, CEO of artificial intelligence concierge company Flybits and visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has worked with TD Bank to integrate artificial intelligence into regular banking operations like mortgage lending.
"Using this technology, if you have a mortgage with the bank and it's up for renewal in 90 days or less . . . if you're walking by a branch, you get a personalized message inviting you to go to the branch and renew purchase," Rahnama said. "If you're looking at a property for sale and you spend more than 10 minutes there, it will send you a possible mortgage offer.
"We're no longer expecting the user to constantly be on a search box Googling what they need," he added. "The paradigm is shifting as to how the right information finds the right user at the right time.
The future of artificial intelligence
So what are some of the potential use of artificial intelligence be? How the technology progresses is hard to say, but most experts consider that these "common sense" functions are even easier to work with machines. This means that robots are very useful in everyday life.
"AI is beginning to make possible, like driverless cars, what was once considered impossible," stated Russell Glenister. Driverless have been developed with the development of a robust ability to train data and fast GPUs, both of which are the key enablers. A huge amount of accurate data is required to train driverless cars and speed is crucial for the training.
Other analysts, like co-founder and CTO of Nara Logics Dr. Nathan Wilson, said they see artificial intelligence on the cusp of revolutionizing familiar activities, such as dining. Wilson predicted that artificial intelligence could be used by a restaurant, for example, to decide which music to play based on the interests of the guests in attendance. Artificial intelligence could even alter the appearance of the wallpaper based on what the technology anticipates the aesthetic preferences of the crowd might be.
If that isn't far-out enough for you, Rahnama predicted that artificial intelligence will take digital technology out of the two-dimensional, screen-imprisoned form to which people have grown accustomed. Instead, the primary user interface will become the physical environment surrounding an individual.
"We've always relied on a two-dimensional display to play a game or interact with a webpage or read an e-book," Rahnama said. "What's going to happen now with artificial intelligence and a combination of the internet of things is that the display won't be the main interface the environment will be. You'll see people designing experiences around them, whether it's in connected buildings or connected boardrooms. These will be 3D experiences you can actually feel."
What does artificial intelligence mean for the worker?
With all these new use cases of artificial intelligence the daunting question arises as to whether machines will force humans into obsolescence.There are people on both sides of the discussion on this : while some experts are of the opinion that artificial intelligence will automate so many jobs that millions of people might find themselves unemployed, while other experts see it as a an exemplary tool which might give superhuman levels of productivity to humans.
"The structure of the workforce is changing, but I don't think artificial intelligence is essentially replacing jobs," according to some experts. They also added "It allows us to really create a knowledge-based economy and leverage that to create better automation for a better form of life. It might be a little bit theoretical, but I think if you have to worry about artificial intelligence and robots replacing our jobs, it's probably algorithms replacing white-collar jobs such as business analysts, hedge fund managers and lawyers."
Another expert said that theparadigm shift towards artificial intelligence-based systems will cause the addition of new jobs to the organisation to facilitate the transition.
According to a leading machine learning expert, "Artificial intelligence will create more wealth than it destroys,but it will not be equitably distributed, especially at first. The changes will be subliminally felt and not overt. As an example a tax accountant won't one day receive a pink slip and meet the robot that is now going to sit at her desk. Rather, the next time the tax accountant applies for a job, it will be a bit harder to find one."
Artificial intelligence is anticipated to break long-standing workflows in the workplace, creating many human jobs to implement those workflows. Other researchers aren't as sure where the new jobs will come from when artificial intelligence becomes omnipresent.
"Earlier, there were opportunities to move from farming to manufacturing to services," Husain said. "Now, that's not the case. Why? Industry has been completely robotized, and we see that automation makes more sense economically."
Husain pointed to self-driving trucks and artificial intelligence concierges like Siri and Cortana as examples, stating that as these technologies improve, widespread use could eliminate as many as 8 million jobs in the U.S. alone.
"When all these jobs start going away, we need to ask, 'What is it that makes us productive? What does productivity mean?'" Husain said. "Now we're confronting the changing reality and questioning society's underlying assumptions. We must really think about this and decide what makes us productive and what is the value of people in society. We need to have this debate and have it quickly, because the technology won't wait for us."
Whether rosy or rocky, the future is coming quickly, and artificial intelligence will certainly be a part of it. As this technology develops, the world will see new startups, numerous business applications and consumer uses, as well as the displacement of certain jobs and the creation of entirely new ones.
The future comes quickly, whether pleasant or unpleasant, and artificial intelligence will definitely be included in it. In the wake of this development, new start-ups, various business applications and consumer applications will grow worldwide as well as the replacement of certain workers and the formation of new industries. Artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things have the ability to re-engineer the economy drastically. However, the outcome for this is not completely understood by us.