5 Trends in Artificial Intelligence - Birute Birgelyte

According to a 2018 MIT survey, 58% of companies were going to modify their business models because of artificial intelligence (AI) within the next 5 years. In 2019, MIT reported that although 9 out of 10 companies had invested in AI, 70% of them had seen little or no impact of AI on their business. Fewer than 2 out of 5 companies admitted that they had some business gains from AI in the past 3 years. The conclusion is obvious: only a few companies know how to leverage AI. To better utilize its business potential, companies need to better understand what AI can offer them. Here are 5 trends in AI that could guide them:

1. Increasing human and AI cooperation. Although AI and automation are often perceived as job killers, a blend of human and robotic workforce is on the rise. Many organizations are using AI and robotic process automation (RPA) to handle high-volume, repetitive tasks. As more AI-powered tools and bots are used in the workplace, more attention will be paid to building tools that allow making the best of human skills which AI cannot manage yet such as imaginative, design, strategy and communication skills. Many people will need to learn new skills or at least learn how to use their skills alongside AI-powered tools. It is estimated that by 2025, 75% of organizations will be investing in retraining their employees to fill skill gaps caused by the adoption of AI on a broad scale.

2. AI-based cybersecurity. As cyberattacks become more sophisticated and increasingly powered by AI and advanced prediction algorithms, AI-based technology will also play an important role in ensuring cybersecurity. AI can be used to detect if there have been any malicious attempts to access sensitive data, and raise alarms before any data breach happens. The development of new technologies will increase cybersecurity vulnerabilities. To overcome cyberattacks, AI-based cybersecurity will focus on several areas: protection of AI-powered systems; enhancing security defence; utilizing machine learning to understand patterns; uncovering attacks; automating some parts of the cybersecurity process as well as identifying AI-based cyberattacks and protecting against them.

3. Process intelligence as a new standard. Technology systems that have very specific functions such as customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP) or a content management system (CMS) provide visibility only into the processes that they control directly. To view all their processes in a holistic, in-depth and real-time manner, organizations need to utilize process intelligence technologies. Over the next years, more organizations will realize that these technologies help them better understand and manage their processes end-to-end, thus establishing these technologies as a new standard.

4. Real-time marketing. Instead of implementing a marketing strategy, marketing activity will increasingly become reliant on immediate customer feedback and relevant trends. Marketing decisions will be made using real-time data. More companies will also be using AI to improve customer satisfaction and manage user interactions in real time. AI will also be used to reach new customers on social media platforms.

5. Better customization. To gain a competitive advantage, many companies try to gain insights in real time, find out customer preferences and deliver services that would address their needs as well as possible. Real-time data and location intelligence have dominated customized services in many fields. To meet increasing customer expectations, companies need to provide more personalized services. To achieve that, they will increasingly become reliant on AI-based applications, backed by advances in location intelligence.