AI is growing at an explosive rate. In fact, there has been quite a strong growth such that some publications – The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Fortune – aptly described 2017 as the “Year of AI.”
Today, AI has outperformed professional games in new realms. Thanks to AI, the accuracy of speech recognition (Microsoft’s Cortana) record has been broken many times. There is an improvement of medical technology, ushering in a new trend of computerized diagnosis.
There quite a lot of disruption in almost every field. The trend is unlikely to change in 2018. In fact, we are expecting to experience a number of firsts in the realm of AI. We are likely to have AI systems that explain themselves. And much more is on the way.
In this article, we have gathered predictions about what IA environment is likely to look like in 2018 and beyond:
Expect less hype, and a lot more action
With every ground-shattering technology comes hype. There was quite a lot of hype around big data. Today it has quietened and gave way to AI hype, which is expected to subside in 2018 and beyond. The thing is, the onset of functional AI has been predicted in the last century. Today, it is here with us. And people can just zip up about it.
In 2018, people want to experience the “next big thing”. That is why we expect to see some real progress towards achieving some of the big dreams sci-fi novelists and other people have been talking about over the past few years.
One of the great indicators of progress in this field is increased investments in the development of AI and how to incorporate the power of machine learning to increase sales. Besides, the results of increased investment in AI are starting to appear that go beyond computer learning to beat human beings at TV game shows and board games.
There are still huge expectations that 2018 will see increased leaps of neural network and machine learning technologies to help people effectively carry out more routine tasks.
Increased funding for AI-based projects
In 2018 and beyond, we expect that more money will be channeled to fund AI enterprise projects. Spurred on by the increasingly changing business environment and the successes achieved by innovators in 2017, more organizations are likely to launch initiatives that involve artificial intelligence.
There have been quite some breakthroughs, thanks to AI. Today, more and more self-driving ships and cars are coming up. Larger-than-life saving advances in medicines are just sitting on the horizon. Many CTOs and CFOs are starting to appreciate AI as a potential business intelligence tool for change. They will likely give it more priority in their business. Besides, the fear of losing out (remember the case of Kodak) is motivating companies to invest in the revolutionary technology.
After the AI Hype comes AI Storm
It’s all in the public domain: the expectation for AI is exploding. But, think about what happened to big data. Who knows the big data bubble will burst? Most people fear that AI hype will lead us into a storm. The truth is, there a lot of upcoming projects that run(or involve) new and untested technology. Some have exited the market and some are on the precipice of exiting.
The thing is, when you are a plunging your feet on untested waters, you have to always brace for unseen challenges here and there. For example, the new powerful machine learning algorithms may sound like a great, new thinking around different problems we are experiencing today. Some of the other challenges that could affect AI-based projects is management and workforce buy-in, economic developments and even the activities of the competition. That lack of focus or vagueness around the AI-based project will often lead to a massive failure of AI initiatives in 2018.
“Plug and play” solutions suck too.
Since the AI is really tough and costly, a failed initiative will do a big blow to the pioneer(s). A cloud-based AI sounds like a cheaper and safer solution. And, it may have opened floodgates for enterprises with limited resources to integrate AI in their operations.
Such solutions, however, risk encouraging a template – a one-size-fits-all – approach to data science. Unfortunately, that approach may not be appropriate for all organizational goals.
Voice-leaning interactions poised to increase
Today, Echo, Cortana, and Alexa have already invaded and taken positions in our homes. Now, the next big thing would be conversational interfaces that are becoming increasingly common when it comes to interacting with technology in a business environment.
Companies are likely to add voice-enabled interfaces to their existing point-and-click dashboards. Thanks to the simplified communication, you can easily structure and posed a query in a matter of seconds. Plus, the improved algorithms –natural language generation and natural language processing algorithms – are making it increasingly easier to converse with a robot, just like we do with human beings. We expect this trend to continue throughout 2018.
AI will give the medical field superpowers
AI will be the “the stethoscope of the 21st century”, said Bertalan Meskó, known better as The Medical Futurist. He couldn’t be more right. Today, the encroachment of AI into healthcare is still very strong, but in a way that is initially invisible to patients.
There is a lot that is happening behind the scenes. For example, image recognition algorithms are being used by medics to spot warning signs buried in medical images. But that is not even scary.
We are likely to have robots involved in looking after our health and wellbeing. For example, care and companionship robots with the ability to help patients cope with disability and illnesses are expected to grow in popularity by 2018.
Summing it up
Far from the hype, there is actually a lot that AI technology is about to achieve this year and beyond. These are just some of the predictions that will characterize AI-enabled initiatives and the technology is proving to be successful in pilots. Overall, it will be an exciting year.
