AI deployment is increasing rapidly across industries in a variety of application areas. The convergence of sensor-driven technologies and other tools is resulting in AI-powered systems that can meet customers wherever they are and form the basis of the new user interface.
Evolving AI technologies are helping to create systems that can be deployed wherever the customer is located, make sense of unstructured data, and offer learned insights, among other capabilities.
While the hype around AI may be off the charts, it is also no longer a futuristic dream. It is in your smart-home device, your robotic vacuum, and your virtual voice assistant. It is in everything from the AI-powered toothbrush that just came out to the large, driverless trucks at a mine in South America.
AI is blending into our everyday lives and has the power to be truly transformational. The time for enterprise deployment is now, due in large part to the convergence of sensor-driven technologies and a new wave of chips that can solve for a variety of challenging computing and business issues. These AI-powered systems are not just plumbing—they are the new user interface.
Several data-driven IT foundations developed over many decades have led to the rise of today’s AI. First, there were pre-internet systems of record, back when software was about adding up sales, making reservations, and creating financials. Data could not escape; taking a 5MB disk on a plane would have required a lift truck.
The internet allowed information to find its freedom. While this empowered customers, information flowed in only one direction—from the website to the user. Still, this slow, limited connectivity equaled great opportunity for disruption. Music became about buying single songs. Books became cheap and downloadable. Maps and encyclopedias became digital and free. Systems talked directly to customers rather than to frontline employees.