Widespread Use Will Reveal the Secrets of AI

Artificial Intelligence  

⯀ Let's face facts. People are nervous about AI and how the technology will disrupt their lives. The idea of "bad robots" and evil artificial intelligence are favorite topics in science fiction. 

The age of AI is upon us, and most of the issues remain unsolved. Driverless cars pose a danger to everyone in the event of malfunctions. Military drone technology may destroy the wrong targets. Everyday people deal with technology failures across a broad spectrum of devices. Why would these new areas be any different?

Jobs Are Undergoing a Transformation

No one is certain how AI will impact industries and jobs. Some suspect that technological advances like these, by default, mean a reduction in headcount.

India's IT sector is bracing for changes. They predict that there will be 7 to 10% fewer people working in the IT services sector by 2022. The arrival of and widespread use of "chatbots" aims directly at outsourced services like call centers. These are the first areas to be hit, and they could indicate the type of downward pressure that's coming for other sectors. Automation is always a threat to workers, and AI helps automate many traditional business processes.

AI Poses a Threat to Public Safety

An out of control robot or AI has the potential to wreak havoc. Programs can and do make mistakes all the time. Whether machines do so at a lower rate than humans is unknown. However, the prospect is chilling to most people. What's more terrifying than dying at the hands of a mistake in programming logic? Meeting such a cold, inhuman end is not a pleasant thing for anyone to ponder. If incidents involving human death at the hands of machines became commonplace, it would seem unlikely that people would remain complacent for long.

A Solution Looking for a Problem

Are we at the point in human history where people are refusing to drive their vehicles? Are folks no longer willing to eat at restaurants because they now prefer driverless delivery of food from their favorite automate diner? This new paradigm may be right for some, but there are millions of individuals who love the experience of going to restaurants and driving their cars! Companies are investing in futuristic technology, but they're so early in the curve they'll need to persuade everyone to give their tools a try. Unless they deliver at lower costs than traditional products, there's little chance they'll be big hits. If that's the case, AI is simply a solution looking for a problem.

Although AI may offer debatable returns at first, the concept of automation of is always appealing for business. Being able to reduce human errors and payroll costs will bring almost all enterprises to the AI sector. So that they stay competitive, companies will need to ensure they're using the same technology as their rivals. Big Data is already transforming the workplace, and AI extends the functionality of data in a multitude of ways.

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Areas like workstream collaboration, which is catching fire with enterprises because it offers productivity boosts, will continue to improve with AI. Customer service is already entering a transformative stage and will not be the last. It's hard to imagine any sales, marketing, and production processes that would not feel changes from the introduction of AI. Perhaps even more crucial, as the machine learning algorithms become better at their jobs, it's not possible that humans would again perform these duties.

• AI will improve many areas of business.
• The spread of the technology is likely to reduce headcount.
• Disruption is already arriving in "front-end" systems where payroll costs are still most burdensome.
• Over time, AI will also impact technology jobs, perhaps even replacing those who champion its usage.

Now is definitely the time for all of us to consider how these emerging technology trends will impact our futures.

By  Kevin Faber
Author Bio - Kevin Faber is the CEO of Silver Summit Capital. He graduated from UC Davis with a B.A. in Business/Managerial Economics. In his free time, Kevin is usually watching basketball or kicking back and reading a good book.