The past twelve months has been quite interesting for the progress that artificial intelligence has made. From facial recognition to Elon Musk’s Neuralink, the story of AI has made the front pages regularly though not as frequently as some may have expected. There were several innovations through 2019 across domains such as big data, blockchain, internet of things (IoT) and robotic process automation, at the heart of which was artificial intelligence (AI).
As 2019 draws to a close, we take a quick peek at how AI would pan out over the next twelve months. Would the world witness AI-as-a-service propelling digital transformation and enabling enterprises take innovation to the next level?
“In a tough economy as everyone tries to optimize business processes, increasing productivity and efficiency while automating repetitive tasks and supporting human capabilities, we will see a strong need for AI usage. Moreover, AI will enable businesses to obtain better value from their data, automate and personalize services, improve security, and supplement human capacity which we see as core scenarios for all businesses today,” Vineet Rao, Founder and CEO, DealShare, a B2C hyperlocal e-retail business operating on a discovery led model, told CXO Today.
The coming year is being seen with a lot of changes and breakthroughs in different avenues. Some of them are mentioned below:
- Chatbots to become more critical: In 2019, we saw Alexa and Google Home gaining immense popularity. From advertisements to e-commerce platforms, voice-activated bots are becoming a part of our lives. In the coming year, it is expected to penetrate deeper into the markets and homes and serve various purposes. Its major presence is expected to be felt in e-commerce, universities and banking sector.
- Deep learning and small data to get bigger: What is going to be at the forefront of the 2020 corporate AI development is the acquisition, generation and working around the massive amount of data points needed for machine and deep learning and to create models which do not require much training. It would enhance productivity and speed, making machine learning more feasible and approachable. In the coming year, the focus is also going to be on bringing AI closer to matching the human ability to conceptualize. In the coming year, more AI systems are expected to rely on “neuro-symbolic” technology which blends earning and logic. This is going to greatly useful for conversational automated customer care.
- Predictive marketing: What AI has given us is the tool to predict. What is likely to pick up further pace in 2020 is the power of AI in predictive marketing. With the help of AI, images and language, basically data can be analyzed to create a holistic profile. This could prove immensely helpful for marketers to understand their customer base better and engage with them in better ways.
- Facial recognition to get more pervasive: This year witnessed the major developments as well as problems associated with facial recognition. From private to public lives, it is being used for different purposes, mainly surveillance though. In 2020, AI is going to increasingly deployed to assist human face recognition and tracking people’s locations. It has already started being used at airports across the world, but coming year will see it in parallels to the security.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)-led technologies is impacting today’s businesses, irrespective of industry, company or people. “With the number of digital natives increasing every day and the way business is done in a more personalized mode, how organizations leverage AI will prove whether they stay relevant and competitive. I see it being extensively used by companies in improving the customer experience (CX) journey to create a differentiation in markets they’re in,” said Natarajan Radhakrishnan, Global CIO, Hinduja Global Solutions.
