The idea of artificial intelligence (AI) has been around for centuries. However, it was only until British Polymath Alan Turing tapped into its full potential in the 1950s that its possibilities really started to be explored. Computers, together with tweaks in technology and machinery decades after, cemented the idea that machines could mimic human decision-making with the help of algorithms and deep learning. Now, technology writer Alice Bonasio says that AI is a regular research subject––it’s grown by 12.9% annually worldwide over the last five years.
As we previously mentioned on our blog, in ‘Staying Ahead of Competitors in Ecommerce’, AI has found great applications in the retail industry. It’s allowed players in the field to stay ahead and has done the same across the board. It has grown to become a [not so] secret weapon for different industries. The extensive list of AI courses hosted on Udemy shows that developers are now finding ways to integrate AI into games, education, businesses, and mobile apps. The breadth of information on AI now means that anyone can become an expert with a little dedication.
It’s clear that it’s full-speed ahead for the future of AI. Here are five trends to watch out for as a new decade approaches:
AI assistants will become more efficient
There are already a number of AI assistants such as Siri, Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and Microsoft Cortana. These have helped users become more efficient and productive as they have been able to perform tasks the way any human would. A lot of this work is done through voice communication, and some innovations have already included two-way conversations between the AI assistant and the human. ComScore predicts that by 2020, 50% of all searches will be made through voice. This indicates that these assistants will be even more customizable and personalized to their users, and will learn to provide them with more content suited to their preferences.
Tightened cybersecurity
While data privacy is a common technological woe, cybersecurity will actually continue to tighten with the help of AI. Organizations will be able to detect security breaches, threats, and cyberattacks with machine learning. As these pose the possibility of great losses for businesses, Capgemini Research Institute details that company budgets for AI cybersecurity will increase by 29% in 2020.
Improved real-time customer interaction
Chatbots and bot technology are now becoming more common sights on websites, for humans to have real-time conversations about certain products and services. UC Today’s webinar (which is also an interactive technological innovation in itself) projects that these bots will continue to improve the user experience and customer service in the coming years.
Fine-tuning of healthcare systems
There is a possibility that AI could make healthcare more democratic by helping to reduce costs so that disadvantaged communities could have access to it. In forgoing biased algorithmic models, the data it now collects and interprets is more representative and accurate for minorities as well. Its predictive properties have become essential to diagnoses, and several models are already making early detection possible. MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab have already developed an AI prediction model that foresees breast cancer up to five years ahead. They continue to work on similar techniques to help detect other life-threatening diseases.
A boost in the agriculture industry
The agriculture sector is subject to constant issues, but AI is predicted to help in advancements in research and development for crops and their yield. These include Crop and Soil Monitoring, Agricultural Robots, and Predictive Analytics which will make farming more efficient, sustainable, and able to meet the demand for food for the growing population.
