Chances are you’ve heard a lot about AI in the last couple of years.
One thing is certain - it attracts a lot of hype and many people are trying to predict how it’s going to change our lives. However, unlike many other technology trends, AI is a genuinely transformative technology, and the hype surrounding it is completely justified.
AI, or Artificial Intelligence, is a machine’s ability to interpret data and act in an intelligent way - much like humans do. It’s one of today’s most rapidly growing technologies and something that’s bound to dramatically alter the way we live and work.
Here are some ways in which AI will influence our world in the upcoming years:
Virtual Assistants Will be Everywhere
For a lot of us, AI has sneaked up on our lives in a discreet manner, without much of a fuss. Today, it can be found everywhere we go - in our cars, homes, workplaces, phones, and laptops.
Out of all forms of AI, the one most people are familiar with is conversational artificial intelligence. Digital assistants, such as Microsoft’s Cortana or Apple’s Siri, are only going to get more sophisticated with time and will be present in most aspects of our lives.
The same goes for chatbots - their role is going to get bigger and better. More and more companies automate their business processes, one of which is customer care. When contacting the customer service of a particular brand, you will always interact with a bot first.
Your Workplace Will be Optimized
By installing sensors with internet access, any infrastructure, device, or process can be made smart. And with the number of connected devices growing with each passing year, this is easier than ever before.
In the upcoming years, sensors and connected devices will bring us smart cities, homes, and offices. Therefore, employees will work at smart workplaces, with AI creating a more personalized working experience for each employee.
We already have the smartest building in the world - its name is The Edge and it’s located in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. This building knows everything about the people inside of it, including personal preferences such as how they like their coffee.
In the future, we will have more and more office complexes such as this one. The objective of smart workplaces, powered by sensors and AI, is to create highly personalized working environments for each employee and boost their productivity in the process.
You Won’t Have to Drive Your Car
Have you been flying in the last couple of years? If you did, you have already been subject to automated transportation.
Most modern commercial airplanes use something called Flight Management System. This elementary component of modern avionics combines computer systems, motion sensors, and GPS to track the airplane’s position during flight. In other words, the pilot manually operates the plane only during takeoff and landing.
Although more complicated, the leap into self-driving cars is already taking place. Even though they have to deal with more traffic rules, patterns, obstacles, and limitations than airplanes, self-driving cars are a reality. In fact, they are safer than human-driven cars!
Your Doctor Will Be Using AI
Nowadays, healthcare professionals are not afraid to put the wellbeing of patients into the hands of an AI. As it turns out, hospitals that treat patients with the help of machine learning see fewer instances of hospital-related illnesses, such as sepsis.
In addition, artificial intelligence can be of great help with more complicated medical issues. One example includes medical experts using predictive models to research genetic diseases with more success.
In the past, doctors had to manually review tons of data before treating a particular patient. Nowadays, AI platforms and deep learning models allow physicians to diagnose patients much sooner and with more accuracy.
You’ll Live in a Safer Environment
By 2030, a lot of cities around the world will be relying on AI technologies when it comes to detecting and predicting crime.
Thanks to the automatic processing of drone and ground surveillance footage, those working in law enforcement will have an easier time with spotting anomalous behavior. The police will be able to react much more quickly, but also to predict the place and time of potential crimes.
Unfortunately, many people fear that using this kind of technology will result in individuals being unduly targeted by the police. However, well-designed systems will be more than capable of highlighting police malpractice and human bias.
These are just some of the areas that will be dramatically affected by the rise of AI. Other fields include farming, eldercare, marketing, linguistics, cybersecurity, sports, banking, entertainment, and even sex.
All in all, it’s pretty safe to say that artificial intelligence is here to stay. The momentum behind AI is building and is bound to impact our society and everyday lives in many different ways.
