Kai-Fu Lee says in 2018, “AI is going to change the world more than anything in the history of mankind. More than electricity.”
As a curious tech enthusiast, I was always curious about the terms Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). These technologies are quite fascinating. This made me do some research and write a blog on AI, and its impact on future lives.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is also regarded as machine intelligence. It is the intelligence demonstrated by machines. This intelligence is unlike the intelligence showcased by humankind and the living world. Leading AI textbooks opine this field of study as “intelligent agents“.
Any device which takes into account its environment and surroundings and performs its tasks with utmost success is termed to be a machine using AI or an AI Gadget or AI machine. The term AI or Artificial Intelligence means anything that can copy or mimic the cognitive functions associated with a human mind. These functions can be learning, problem-solving, analyzing, etc.
What is AI and its Future?
Artificial Intelligence is more about intelligence and less about being Artificial. According to Dr. Kai-Fu Lee, AI will significantly impact the lives of humankind in every arena. But I wonder what those areas where Artificial Intelligence will bring a change and how are? Artificial Intelligence is making rapid strides, and the developments are quicker than the predictions shown in the famous Hollywood film “Minority Report” set on the backdrop of 1954.
In recent research carried out by Oxford University, the following predictions are made about the future of AI –
- Artificial Intelligence may become better than humans in translating languages by 2024.
- It will be capable of writing school essays by 2026.
- We will be able to sell goods by the year 2031.
- Writing a book by 2049, and even to the extent of conducting surgeries by 2053.
In the coming years, AI is expected to become an integral part of our lives. We may witness extremely intelligent machines that can be far better than the intellectual competencies of humankind. Let me share a few instances of the impact of Artificial Intelligence below:
- Just imagine that you can open the door of your hotel room or house without a key. You can do it through the face recognition tools. Your face will be used to do various transactions as and when identity will be required.
- Already, drones have started delivering products to your houses, but the involvement of such drones will become higher in the coming days.
- One will find the use of Artificial Intelligence even in booking appointments, for example, in a salon or restaurant or travel agency.
- Finally, a day may soon come when you may also get operated by a Robot. In the next few years, a physical surgeon will only conduct the operation, but intelligent AI-based robots may perform the surgery.
These are just a few examples and possibilities of how artificial intelligence may be for us in the days to come. Artificial Intelligence’s future is bright, and with each day, newer milestones are reached with the introduction of Robots in Hospitals or the usage of Drones for civilian purposes. But still, more improvement and developments are required to be made in this direction.
Top tech giants are now rapidly doing research in the field of AI and Machine Learning to come up with more innovation in this field. These techies are in a race to incorporate AI in our lives daily and make our future more tech-savvy and smoother and efficient.
How Will Artificial Intelligence Change our Future?
With the rapid strides made in AI, here is how Artificial Intelligence can change our lives in the near future. Based on my research, I have listed them here below:
1) AI in Healthcare
As per reports, close to 86% of the mistakes can be avoided in the medicine and healthcare industry with the use of Artificial Intelligence. In the near future, AI will undoubtedly play a substantial role in this sector. AI in healthcare will work towards the benefit of patients as well as healthcare professionals. It will also save various transactional and other costs, which will make medical expenses far cheaper.
Artificial intelligence is equipped with making predictions based on logical thinking and analysis, just like the human mind. It will also show results to any given problem based on these abilities. This will make medical treatments more effective too. It will help doctors and patients to stay one step ahead of the problem faced.
Things like Predictive Analytics, along with Artificial Intelligence, can help us understand factors such as place of birth, eating habits & lifestyle, and local air pollution levels that can impact our health. Such technologies can help us predict which type of disease a person is going to be affected.
In the coming years, with the help of healthcare systems equipped with AI-powered to make anticipations when a person is likely to develop any particular disease. It will also help us with suggestions for preventive medications, which can avoid getting us affected by any disease.
Various development works are going on to develop innovative AI-powered tools to make the healthcare industry far more efficient. You can already see that robots are used in hospitals during this pandemic. Further developments are being made to make these robots smarter and perform more critical tasks.
Several discoveries are underway in this field to help doctors diagnose patients with the help of artificial intelligence. AI-powered applications will be a game-changer when it comes to imparting better medical treatment to patients. Artificial Intelligence will undoubtedly revolutionize healthcare.
There are various Robots already in use in the healthcare sector like –
- Moxi robot by Diligent Robotics – This robot helps nurses in bringing stock and carrying them from one place to another and also helps in cleaning. Thus, it ensures that nurses get more time to concentrate on patients.
- V Light Disinfectant Robot – This robot is used as a disinfectant and does not leave the room until it is free from germs.
- The da Vinci Surgical Robot – This robot helps in precision-guided surgeries as more than 200,000 lakh patients die in the USA due to surgical errors.
You may find robots interacting with patients, checking their health, and even prescribing medicines and need for any further appointment with a doctor. We will need doctors, nurses, scientists, but AI will simplify the entire work process and ensure greater accuracy.
2) Artificial Intelligence in Retail
As I said at the beginning of the blog, Drones are now used more to deliver products to our addresses. Before going deep, let’s take a look at some of the facts and figures below:
- The market of Artificial Intelligence globally in the Retail Sector is expected to be more than 5 million USD by 2022. This market was about 736 million USD in 2016.
- The compound annual growth rate is 38.3 percent.
- Capgemini’s report on AI’s impact in the Retail sector states that Artificial Intelligence can save over 340 billion USD by 2022 for the Retail industry.
- Some serious players from the US, Germany & Singapore are developing AI platforms for the retails industry. These firms are IBM, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Oracle, SAP, Intel, NVIDIA, Google, Sentient Technologies, Salesforce, and ViSenze.
These facts are a clear indication that AI has a huge market in the Retail Industry. AI promises a great future for the retail industry with various possibilities of usage to maintain smoother business operations.
There are various instances of the effect of Artificial Intelligence in Retail; let’s give you some examples. You can get your products of 5-pound in weight delivered in less than 30 by the AI-powered drones. In this pandemic, such initiatives can be welcome when there is always a difficulty in moving out.
Amazon is trying hard in this direction, but there is no official confirmation on the implementation of such drones. However, in the next decade, we can expect them to be completely operational and the usual thing to deliver products.
AI in the Retail Sector can be a breakthrough in improving our lifestyle with realistic scenarios that include virtual racks customized according to data-driven persona, connected dressing rooms including screens, and personalization based on consumer choices history and trends.
Artificial Intelligence will also help forecast demand and help make business decisions based on history and trends and ensure a smooth supply chain for the retail sector.
3) Artificial Intelligence in Banking
As per our study, the global market of AI in the Banking and Financial markets business can reach up to 300 billion USD by 2030. Artificial Intelligence will now take center stage in the Banking & Financial sectors as well. It will impact various factors related to business intelligence and data security at a reduced cost, increase productivity, and improve customer experiences.
Robo Advisors will become a common sight in Wealth Management and will have a game-changing impact on the Banking sector by saving time for the wealth managers and customers. Customer experience will be one area where Artificial Intelligence will play a tremendous role. AI will not only innovate products and services, but it will also enhance customer services. An example of such usage is that now we don’t need an ID Card while we walk into any bank to avail of the services. Everything is available on the Bank databases.
4) AI in Restaurants? Is it true?
Running a restaurant is similar to fighting for survival. From this term, we can relate Darwin’s famous quote, “Survival of the fittest.” Yes, to ensure survivability, owners of restaurants have started adopting innovative ways to provide excellent quality food to customers. And Artificial Intelligence has started playing a role in this sector too.
AI optimizes the entire operations in Restaurants and saves time in delivery with utmost precision while it comes to quality. It also helps make predictions related to future sales based on past and previous consumer trends and promotions.
The various technologies used by Artificial Intelligence in restaurants are as follows:
- Robotics
- Smart Kiosks
- Chat-bots
- Food Service Apps
A Japanese tech firm has developed an AI-driven Robot Waiter, Pepper. It can do a lot of functions starting from accepting orders, making recommendations, and initiating payments. Few of these robots are already in use in restaurants like the Pizza Hut.
Other examples, like the company TellSpec, develop a handheld scanner to identify the ingredients of cooked food. Bio-information techniques and learning algorithms are used to find out ingredients and identify them.
Apart from all these above sectors, Artificial Intelligence also will impact various other industries like Defense, Aerospace, Automobiles, Travel & Tourism, Manufacturing, Photography, Filming, and others. The use of AI will be huge in days to come.
Artificial Intelligence will not take away Jobs but will Create them
Yes, AI will indeed minimize the use of the Labor Force to a certain extent. While, on the other hand, it is also true that to run these machines, you will need a human. What I felt after researching this subject is that substantial human capital will be required first to develop this technology and then implement and run them successfully. One argument comes that the requirement for unskilled labor will be less as AI-powered machines will do most of those tasks, but at the same time, the need for skilled employees will be high. This will create an urge among unskilled forces to improve upon their skills and be able to run those machines.
Overall, the situation will improve with AI implementation and will not be that much grim as various analysts point it out to be. According to a report on Future Jobs by the World Economic Forum, AI is expected to create at least 58 million new jobs by 2022.
In developing countries like India, the AI market has recently doubled in size since 2019. In just one year, the number of companies working on various Artificial Intelligence projects has become three times more. In India, the number of engineers working on Artificial Intelligence projects increased to 72,000 in 2019 from 40,000 in 2018. So, AI is not taking away jobs, and it is rather creating. Thus, the myth surrounding Artificial Intelligence taking away jobs is untrue.
So, I hope you realize how important the Artificial Intelligence of AI will be in our lives come 2020 and beyond. If you are curious to know about some latest AI Gadgets and AI, do follow my blogs here going forward. Before knowing on AI Gadgets, it is essential to know about Artificial Intelligence, hence the thought of penning down my thoughts. You can comment on relevant topics, and we will be happy to cater to your queries.