AI In Business: How Future Of AI Looks As Firms Explore Artificial Intelligence
The popular Super Bowl commercial laid out a tongue-in-cheek crisis in the future of AI. Amazon.com’s (AMZN) digital assistant Alexa loses her voice. What to do in a world dependent on artificial intelligence in business and at home?
X Enter a series of stand-ins, including actor Anthony Hopkins, who goes into creepy Hannibal Lecter mode and unnerves the people he’s supposed to help. Thankfully, Alexa recovers her digital voice and restores order. AI proves its value.
Corporate America is on the cusp of a plunge into this future of AI in business. And giant technology companies — which stand to benefit by both harnessing their own artificial intelligence applications and helping other companies make the leap — are immersed in it now.
Artificial intelligence innovations are well along at Amazon, Google-parent Alphabet (GOOGL), Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT). Alexa, found on Amazon’s Echo devices, is just one example. Digital aides like Google’s aptly named Assistant on its Home smart speaker and Apple’s Siri on its Home Pod can help with shopping, entertainment, school work and other tasks.
Tech companies also are busy at work on deploying AI in self-driving cars. And companies ranging from giant IBM (IBM) and Oracle (ORCL) to a wave of startups are competing for talent and technology so they can cash in as AI spreads to non-tech enterprises.
Outside Silicon Valley, companies are dipping a tentative toe into AI. Surveys show that most companies plan to evaluate how artificial intelligence can make them better, whether in making sales forecasts, automating tasks now done manually, improving existing products or enabling new ones. Budgets could more than triple in the next few years.
“There’s a lot of interest and experimentation; companies are still in the proof-of-concept, project phase,” said Nicholas McQuire, vice president of enterprise research at CCS Insight. “We’ll see more deployment in about one or two years.”
Artificial intelligence software programs — essentially computer algorithms — analyze huge amounts of data to identify patterns and predict outcomes.
Companies are developing AI software that could save lives through early cancer detection. Other projects might someday thwart a cyberattack.
Banking, retail and health care are among the sectors pushing into AI with pilot projects. Conversational “chat bots” are popping up on company websites, answering questions and improving customer service.
Walmart Stores (WMT) harnesses AI to optimize inventories and supply chains by predicting future demand and reordering stock. Monsanto (MON) uses artificial intelligence to identify the most promising molecules in bioengineering. John Deere (DE) expects AI to reduce chemical spraying volumes in farming. And shale oil producer Devon Energy (DVN) uses AI to guide drilling gear.
IBD’s Take: The so-called FANG stocks are leading the way in AI in consumer apps and cloud computing. Learn more about Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google at IBD’s FANG stocks news page. To keep up to date on the latest in artificial intelligence, bookmark our AI trends and news page.
There’s more. Banks see the future of AI in detecting money laundering and fraud. Manufacturers see AI as helpful in scheduling equipment maintenance. In health care, AI could predict diabetes and other diseases before they develop and identify the most promising treatments.
In e-commerce, marketers expect AI tools to personalize website content to spotlight products or services that each online shopper is most likely to buy and to target ads more effectively. The telecom, oil and gas, media, entertainment and agriculture industries also are expected to embrace AI in their business.
“A lot of companies see AI as transformational, but maybe not quite yet,” said Jeff Cotrupe, an analyst at Frost & Sullivan.
Industry disruptions and AI-based business models are off in the future.
