7 surprising companies where you can work on cutting-edge AI technology
Consider yourself lucky if you happen to be studying machine learning, data science, business intelligence, or any other field that relates to AI. While automationslowly eats away at human jobs, the demand for AI talent continues to grow at an accelerating pace.
According to employment search platform Indeed, AI-related job postings havedoubled in the past three years.
“When it comes to the future of work, artificial intelligence (AI) and automation are poised to impact nearly every facet of the workforce in some way,”says Dr. Andrew Chamberlain, Chief Economist at Glassdoor, another prominent employment directory website. “These technologies are being used for popular services like customer service chatbots at Bank of America, easy-to-search images on Facebook, and even automated fashion suggestions for apparel shoppers on Amazon.”
An increasing number of industries and domains are waiting to be disrupted and enhanced by machine learning and deep learning. Here are a number of exciting venues worth exploring if you’re interested in using your AI chops to develop game-changing technologies.
In a foreseeable future, AI algorithms will replace human drivers in cars. The technology still has challenges to overcome, and every once in a while we read about crashes and incidents that involve self-driving car test programs. But the industry is poised on ironing the kinks and rolling out self-driving cars to the masses in the next few years. And they’re looking for talented AI experts to help improve their self-driving cars technologies.
The field of autonomous driving has drawn the interest of not only big and emerging tech companies but also traditional car makers. Among them is German automotive giant Volkswagen, which has recently increased its involvement in the AI industry. The company has its own AI labs, where its experts on working on a range of projects, including the enhancement of the way self-driving cars see and react to events that happen around them.
In 2017, Volkswagen partnered with graphics chipmaker Nvidia to expand its AI projects. In early 2018, the carmaker partnered withself-driving car startup Aurorato accelerate the development of its fleet of self-driving cars.
AI algorithms perform best where there’s an abundance of quality data. And there are very few domains that have as much historical and structured data as the financial industry. There are many ways that AI can help make financial institutions become more efficient at providing services to their customers. Some examples include detecting and preventing fraud, algorithmic trading, and providing banking assistance to customers. In addition to many fintech startups that work on specific AI solutions, we’re seeing several large financial institutions and banks gradually transform into tech companies in their own right, acquiring startups and AI talent to develop their own solutions and maintain their competitive edge in a fast-changing market.
An example is JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the United States, and among the leading financial institutions employing technology and AI algorithms in different fields. The firm recentlyhired Manuela Veloso, the former head of Carnegie Melon University’s Machine Learning Department, as its first head of artificial intelligence research. The company’s tech budget for 2018 topped $10 billion, and AI will be a good part of it. “Looking five to 10 years out, the pace of technological innovation will only quicken as artificial intelligence, robotics, machine learning, distributed ledgers and big data will all shape our future,” Co-President and Co-Chief Operating Officer Daniel Pinto said in aletter to shareholdersin April.
JPMorgan has already rolled out several AI-powered services for its clients, including the use of AI algorithms to help investors makebetter investment and trade decisions.
