Innovations in Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are some of the hottest fields in the technology world. Giants like Amazon, Google, Apple, and just about every other software or technology company are funneling ridiculous amounts of money and capital into R&D for AI. Not just for futuristic products, such as the self-driving car, which Google pesters users to identify traffic lights and street signs for, but for services and conveniences as well. Obviously, one of the most well-known examples of AI is the Amazon Alexa, the almost-household object that can interact with users and perform basic tasks. But moving beyond the impact of Artificial Intelligence directed towards the user, companies are also starting to utilize AI in their own workforce to achieve much higher levels of productivity at lower costs- According to a new IDC research, the contribution of digital workers — such as software robots and AI — will grow by over 50% by 2022. The pros and cons of these trends are highly debatable and have been very controversial topics to tech pioneers and the people whose jobs are actually being taken by the artificial intelligences, but nevertheless AI is a very real and rapidly-growing innovation.
The basics of AI aren’t really as complicated as many people think. AI is a very expansive and widely-applicable technology, but on an extremely low-level, it is just feeding a computer huge amounts of information and programming it to make choices based on that information. With the Alexa, the “AI” doesn’t even really fall into this definition, since it just takes a voice command, interprets it, and returns some function, but based on the sci-fi depictions of AI in the past with a conscious and intelligent being, the Alexa bears some striking resemblance and has thus been thrown into the AI category. It does have some capability to learn over time, but its main purposes are simple- it doesn’t take much intelligence for an Alexa to set an alarm (or shut up in the morning), shuffle a playlist, or tell the weather. With regard to the other example I’ve given, Waymo, Google’s self-driving car, incorporates a ton of machine-learning to further its AI. Like I said before, whenever Google asks you to authenticate that you are, in fact, a person and asks that you select squares with street signs or traffic lights, it is in fact just collecting information to feed into its software to help the car recognize these necessary objects. Other technologies like IBM Watson, which many might recognize from Jeopardy, utilize similar machine learning and processing systems.
Being a teenage boy, I love video games, and as anybody who plays video games can tell you, the use of AI is pretty common. Granted, it is in the form of a CPU, but whenever there is a computer that acts as a person, it can be labeled as AI. There are varying levels of complexity- they can range from the simple CPU in a game of pong, that just tracks the location of the ball, or it can be as complex as bots in games like Call of Duty or NBA 2K, which have to follow tactics and strategies to simulate realistic situations. They require little machine learning, but the complexity of their software allows them to consider various actions, transition models, path costs, and many other aspects that allow for realistic processes. The use of AI in video games isn’t really comparable to the really powerful AI that tech companies are developing and incorporating into their services, but I just wanted to throw this in the post to kind of touch on both my love for video games and the abstractness and applicability of AI.
I’ve spoken really briefly on AI- the usefulness, powerfulness, and some examples of it- but I also wanted to include in this post some recent AI trends that capitalize on the development of Artificial Intelligence to really revolutionize industries included in a Forbes article.
AI will increasingly be monitoring and refining business processes
With machine learning, AI will learn business trends, and analyze situations, risks, rewards, and data in order to provide better consulting and advice to maximize business profits and growth. I doubt it will completely eliminate human business analysts, since there is a necessary emotional aspect and some rationality that goes into business decisions, but it will definitely be an extremely helpful tool as it becomes more sophisticated.
More and more personalization will take place in real-time
This really fits in well with the machine learning that I have mentioned in this article- more companies will use AI and machine learning to analyze customer trends and preferences to really provide the best services to them. This might be seen as an invasion of privacy and security, but in the end it will allow the companies to give customers the best services and maximize revenue, and could also make customer decisions easier.
AI becomes increasingly useful as data becomes more accurate and available
Again, the basis of AI is data and machine learning. Therefore, obviously, as more data gets fed into the program the AI can really become much more sophisticated in terms of analysis and recognition based on the amount of information that it has to base its decisions off of.
More devices will run AI-powered technology
As I’ve touched on, AI is a very abstract concept- there are a lot of different types, applications, complexities, and functionalities of AI. Therefore, a wide, wide variety of companies and devices will run AI-powered technology. It’s really that useful, and in every field there is some product that would improve with AI.
Human and AI cooperation increases
If the prediction of AI in the workplace is correct, at 50%, then of course humans will have to cooperate with AI. This blend of human emotions and hard, data-based decisions can potentially be very useful in a lot of situations. Even in non-workplace environments, AI and humans will interact even more as AI begins to be completely incorporated in our daily devices.
AI increasingly at the “edge”
This is not some dystopian, AI domination warning, though it sounds like it. Instead, this forecast simply predicts the development of AI so that it can take place at the location of data collection, not somewhere up in the cloud or in a distant server. This can lead to faster and more efficient analysis and performance, and even could lead to performance disconnected (no wifi) situations.
AI increasingly used to create films, music, and games
I already talked about AI in games with the CPU and bots, but it does have applications to films and music. For example, the CGI in movies, though sophisticated already, could really benefit from AI both in terms of realism and ease. And in music, the sound quality and sound mixing, as well as the smart playlists that have made platforms like Spotify so far, are currently using AI and will definitely continue to develop the AI programs in the future.
AI will become ever more present in cybersecurity
In a world where all our information is online, cybersecurity is incredibly important. AI could really help cybersecurity firms and also just regular websites encrypt and protect their users better by recognizing malicious activities and taking action faster than a human could. Again, this would require a machine learning curve, but it will become more reliable with more data.
More of us will interact with AI, maybe without even knowing it
In areas like customer service, AI has been utilized extensively, but it is extremely obvious when we hear a robotic voice to distinguish between an automated and human customer service technician. However, there is the possibility that in the future, companies sophisticate AI and the voice enough to the point where the consumer may not even know that they are speaking to a robot.
But AI will recognize us, even if we don’t recognize it
Facial recognition is a scary technology to a lot of people, especially those who really value their privacy. However, facial recognition is very helpful and can improve safety in many situations, and is therefore necessary. As it continues to develop and grow, we’ll see what the public reaction to it is, but the fact is that facial recognition could be very utilized in our day-to-day lives.
AI is a scary topic to many- even Elon Musk, one of the most revolutionary visionaries in the world. But it will continue to develop, and will continue to be useful despite the downsides. I don’t see AI developing into something with a human-like consciousness, at least enough that it will be able to break away from the commands that it is given, but it may be a possibility in the distant future. For now though, AI only has advantages if used correctly, and is a key element to innovation.
Trends taken from this Forbes article