Regardless of how fascinating future of AI might be, there would always be some amount of scepticism coupled with the subject. Movies have conditioned us to believe the age of Robots might take over humans but people often ignore the upside of AI and Machine learning. If utilised well, mankind could do wonders with smart machines. They could impact our daily lives immensely and most certainly, life would get easier. For businesses, it could change the way people interact with their products and services. It could be as redefining as changing the logo of a company. Some people believe that a minor change of logo could do a lot more to a company’s reputation than one could imagine. You might want to do that as well with the help of a brand like Tailor Brands that has been helping brands for ages.
Coming to the point, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the subject of AI and Machine Learning has always been a hot topic of discussion in recent years. It has and will impact our lives in unimaginable ways and we’re here to discuss some of those small things that might be more significant than we realise. Let’s have a look.
Driverless cars
Are they really safe? Would you really risk your life by letting technology handle the wheels?
The idea of driverless cars might have come across as daft to many sceptics in the early days but you must have noticed how the stories of driverless cars have deluged the tabloids. Imagine a commute where your hands aren’t busy steering, instead, you are having a pack of chips and sipping a coke while slowly swirling to your favourite R&B track ”we aren’t discussing a futuristic movie, this how your commute could actually look in a few years. The genesis of the concept of driverless cars might have received a hostile welcome by the common folks but the idea has slowly made its way into the minds of the people.
In all fairness, driverless cars could actually do a lot better to roads than you think of. If the idea of crashes scares you, put into perspective the fact that around 1.2 million people die each year due to accidents related to automobiles. Also, a survey by Forbes and Statista tells that 81% of driving accidents occur due to human errors. Driverless vehicles on the other hand, firstly give a breather to those who don’t know driving. Roads would be free from mindless honking and the cases of drunk driving would only be found in old archives of news websites. Not to mention, women would be free from the stereotypical banter they get for driving.
However, almost every technological advancement has some shortcomings and so do the driverless cars. Two major problems with these would be to keep them off from the dangers of hacking, and settling the discontent that’d come when some automobile-related jobs would start becoming obsolete. But both of these areas would surely be looked upon and the overall effect of the driverless cars would hopefully be positive.
Reliance on tech companies on AI and Machine Learning
The chances of errors and efficiency of smart machines make AI a great tool to mushroom a business. As the common saying goes, AI is the future. So, the obvious eye of tech giants was always there on AI and machine learning. The giants like Facebook, Amazon and their ilk either started their own projects related to it or planned on acquiring businesses that were booming in the AI ecosystem. Mark Zuckerberg was quick off the mark when he launched the Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR) group in 2013.
“Facebook today cannot exist without AI,” he said. “Every time you use Facebook or Instagram or Messenger, you may not realise it, but your experiences are being powered by AI.”
Did that make you scratch your head a little? Well, it’s obvious. But that’s the truth. Each move of your finger and the word that is coming out of your mouth while using Facebook or Instagram is being monitored. For example, you must have noticed that the ads that you see are the of the things that you have recently searched or have been talking about.
Google also joined the party in 2014 by making a staggering $400 million acquisition of an Artificial Intelligence start-up called DeepMind. AI plays a huge part in Google’s products. Be it their digital assistant or the algorithms used by their search engine, it has changed the game for them and for many others as well.
Amazon also has an AI-powered shop called Amazon Go in Seattle. You must have heard about their popular Voice Assistant Alexa that analyses and process natural language by the use of neural networks and responds appropriately. Also, their brilliant implementation of Anticipative Shipping has done wonders for their e-commerce store. With the help of Anticipative Shipping, they are able to guess the products that’d likely be purchased by the people of in a certain area. Based on the people’s search history and details of previous orders, they anticipate the products that the users are likely to order ”yes, that’s how their Prime Delivery system has been a success ”because people don’t like waiting.
Apart from these, another tech-conglomerate that has given some serious attention to AI and Machine learning is Microsoft. In the year of 2016, they created an Artificially Intelligence and Research Group. A few months before that year came to the end, they gave rise to a new fund for AI-based start-ups. They funded Element AI ”an incubator based in Montreal ” and acquired five companies in the year 2018.
To be honest, it’s no surprise to see tech giants running behind AI. A future without AI seems inevitable at this point and with new dimensions coming out every other month in the AI-ecosystem, we can only expect more money to flow around the inventions related to AI.
Change in the nature of the jobs
This is probably one of the many reasons why people don’t encourage the growth of AI and Machine Learning. And it’s understandable to a limit. Think about it: How would you feel when you’d come to know that your job could become archaic in future? Seems scary but AI would soon transform many industries in ways people can’t anticipate.
These two change the whole dynamics of business analysis. Be it forecasting, predictive maintenance or the kinds of optimizations that smart machines can do, these things have put a lot of jobs in danger. For example, Driverless cars would replace the needs of cab drivers. Companies like Uber have already been pro-active about it.
While it is a thing of worry to some, the high level of optimism of others eclipses the idea as people focus more on the fascinating possibilities that the technology has to offer.
Make healthcare more efficient and sophisticated
AI can change the face of the healthcare industry and could magnify its productivity at an exponential rate. It is the answer to many pitfalls that affect the efficiency and fundamental organisation of the industry. Let’s discuss some of the major things would change with AI’s aid.
One of the things that are mutually hated by the patients and the doctors is paperwork. Medical procedures exact loads of paperwork and sometimes they take more time than the treatment. With AI in the frame, we picture doctors spending more time treating patients instead of being data clerks. Voice recognition technology could be used to collect patients’ data and carry out minor tests. A smart machine could also scan images a thousand times faster than humans, and instant processing of medical images could boost the overall time of the whole medical procedure. Tons of data is generated in a patients’ medical record and doing it manually takes up an awful lot of time. With AI, you could not only keep records organized but also put light on different facets of a person’s life like their medical history, diet, family history, etc.
All of these things boil down to one essential thing that is time. The minimization of time by AI would optimize the industry in ways unimaginable and would be a wholesome technological advancement.
The new age of internet searches
A new dimension has been added to internet searches ”voice searching. With the rise of digital assistants like Siri, Alexa, Cortona, people are gradually shifting to this fun way of making queries. But the fun doesn’t stop at searches; people in 2019 are doing a lot more than just asking questions to their digital assistants. People can now book rides, Order Pizza and a lot of other things that previously took more time to be processed.
From the perspective of businesses, this could change their fortunes and offers them a fresh space where one could get an edge over their competitors. More than half of the companies in the world still have no strategy for voice searches and this gives you (if you run a business) a great opportunity to reap benefits from. When your brand manifests on a voice search, a certain amount of authenticity is attached to your brand’s image. Not to mention, it’s easy to publicise your business on voice searches because of relatively less competition.
If stats intrigue you, you might be surprised to know that one out of six Americans owns a digital assistant ”let that sink in.
