How Artificial Intelligence Will Transform Businesses

Many people still associate AI with science-fiction dystopias, but that characterization is
waning as AI develops and becomes more commonplace in our daily lives. Today, artificial
intelligence is a household name – and sometimes even a household presence (hi, Alexa!).
While acceptance of AI in mainstream society is a new phenomenon, it is not a new concept.
The modern field of AI came into existence in 1956, but it took decades of work to make significant
progress toward developing an AI system and making it a technological reality.
In business, artificial intelligence has a wide range of uses. In fact, most of us interact with AI
in some form or another on a daily basis. From the mundane to the breathtaking , artificial
intelligence is already disrupting virtually every business process in every industry. As AI
technologies proliferate, they are becoming imperative to maintain a competitive edge.

What is AI?
Before examining how AI technologies are impacting the business world, it's important to
define the term. "Artificial intelligence" is a broad term that refers to any type of computer software
that engages in humanlike activities – including learning, planning and problem-solving. Calling
specific applications "artificial intelligence" is like calling a car a "vehicle" – it's technically correct,
but it doesn't cover any of the specifics. To understand what type of AI is predominant in business,
we have to dig deeper.

Machine learning
Machine learning is one of the most common types of AI in development for business
purposes today. Machine learning is primarily used to process large amounts of data quickly. These
types of AIs are algorithms that appear to "learn" over time.
If you feed a machine-learning algorithm more data its modeling should improve. Machine
learning is useful for putting vast troves of data – increasingly captured by connected devices and
the Internet of Things – into a digestible context for humans.
For example, if you manage a manufacturing plant, your machinery is likely hooked up to the
network. Connected devices feed a constant stream of data about functionality, production and more
to a central location. Unfortunately, it's too much data for a human to ever sift through; and even if
they could, they would likely miss most of the patterns.
Machine learning can rapidly analyze the data as it comes in, identifying patterns and
anomalies. If a machine in the manufacturing plant is working at a reduced capacity, a machine-
learning algorithm can catch it and notify decision-makers that it's time to dispatch a preventive
maintenance team.
But machine learning is also a relatively broad category. The development of artificial neural
networks – an interconnected web of artificial intelligence "nodes" – has given rise to what is
known as deep learning.

Deep learning
Deep learning is an even more specific version of machine learning that relies on neural
networks to engage in what is known as nonlinear reasoning. Deep learning is critical to performing
more advanced functions – such as fraud detection. It can do this by analyzing a wide range of
factors at once.
For instance, for self-driving cars to work, several factors must be identified, analyzed and
responded to simultaneously. Deep learning algorithms are used to help self-driving cars
contextualize information picked up by their sensors, like the distance of other objects, the speed at
which they are moving and a prediction of where they will be in 5-10 seconds. All this information
is calculated at once to help a self-driving car make decisions like when to change lanes.
Deep learning has a great deal of promise in business and is likely to be used more often.
Older machine-learning algorithms tend to plateau in their capability once a certain amount of data
has been captured, but deep learning models continue to improve their performance as more data is
received. This makes deep learning models far more scalable and detailed; you could even say deep
learning models are more independent.

AI and business today

Rather than serving as a replacement for human intelligence and ingenuity, artificial
intelligence is generally seen as a supporting tool. Although AI currently has a difficult time
completing common sense tasks in the real world, it is adept at processing and analyzing troves of
data much faster than a human brain could. Artificial intelligence software can then return with
synthesized courses of action and present them to the human user. In this way, we can use AI to
help game out possible consequences of each action and streamline the decision-making process.
"Artificial intelligence is kind of the second coming of software," said Amir Husain, founder
and CEO of machine-learning company SparkCognition. "It's a form of software that makes
decisions on its own, that's able to act even in situations not foreseen by the programmers. Artificial
intelligence has a wider latitude of decision-making ability as opposed to traditional software."
Those traits make AI highly valuable throughout many industries – whether it's simply
helping visitors and staff make their way around a corporate campus efficiently, or performing a
task as complex as monitoring a wind turbine to predict when it will need repairs.
Whether rosy or rocky, the future is coming quickly, and artificial intelligence will certainly be a
part of it. As this technology develops, the world will see new startups, numerous business
applications and consumer uses, the displacement of certain jobs and the creation of entirely new
ones. Along with the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence has the potential to dramatically
remake the economy, but its exact impact remains to be seen.

dystopias - антиутопії,

Warning - попередження

household name - популярна назва

household presence - присутність домашнього господарства

From the mundane to the breathtaking- від буденності до захоплюючого

Proliferate- розповсюджуватися

competitive edge- Конкурентна перевага

to dig deeper - копати глибше

Machine learning – машинне обучення
feed - годувати
vast troves - величезні сховища
Internet of Things – інтернет речей
hooked up - підключити
sift through – відфільтрувати
nodes - вузли
Deep learning -глибоке навчання
nonlinear reasoning -нелінійне обґрунтування

plateau - плато
adept – експерт
streamline – спрощування, оптимізація
second coming of software – друге пришестя програмного забезпечення
founder - засновник
CEO - генеральний директор
wider latitude більш широкі можливості
Whether rosy or rocky, the future is coming quickly,- райдужне або похмуре, майбутнє настає
швидко