Surveillance

Surveillance systems can benefit significantly from AI. For example, AI systems can
automatically detect suspicious behavior in real-time. This can be implemented in places like
supermarkets, military and security stations, or any place with restricted access.
Agriculture
Global phenomena like climate change, food security, and population growth are making the
application of innovative approaches in the area of agriculture more important than ever. AI
systems are at the core of such type of innovative approaches. Examples of applications of AI in
agriculture include precision farming, detection of pests, monitoring the health of soils and crops,
and the like. AI-based agricultural advisory systems can be built that farmers use to be climate-
ready and adjust their farming activities accordingly.
Customer Service
Due to advancements in multiple areas of AI such as Natural Language Processing (NLP),
chatbots are nowadays used to provide customer support. A chatbot is a system that simulates
human conversation through text or voice commands. It is a fast and cheaper way for companies
to provide support and assistance to their customers.
Healthcare
Healthcare is one of the areas with immense potential for the application of AI. Disease
diagnosis, drug development, and hospital care are some of the examples of applications of AI in
the healthcare sector. More examples of the assistance that AI offers in healthcare for complex
activities like surgery are discussed in Section 2.2
Space Exploration
Space exploration is characterized by the processing of a massive amount of data. AI and
Machine Learning, which is one of the branches of AI, are used to process data that assists space
exploration activities. Operations like space mission planning, data collection, navigation, and
maneuvering are supported by AI. NASA, for example, uses a robot known as Robonaut to work
on the International Space Station. Robonaut uses many of the tools that an astronaut uses and
can perform tasks that are normally done by human beings.
Smart Homes
AI systems are abundant in what is known as smart homes. The AI systems assist in home
security, household chores, alerting of smokes, and many more.
Banks
Credit cards and other forms of fraud prevalent in the banking industry can be prevented using
fraud prevention AI. AI systems are used to trace the pattern in credit card transactions and
detect frauds
Search Engine
Search engines use AI systems such as NLP to better understand user search queries. They also
use AI in ranking algorithms, which determine in what order responses are presented to users in
reply to their search query.
Activity
1) Discuss how AI systems can help social networking companies improve their services.
2) Search and discuss in group on more examples of the application of AI outside those
covered in the textbook. Discuss the features and debate for or against AI systems.

Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is defined as storing and accessing data and computing services over the
Internet. It does not store any data on your personal computer. Computing services like servers,
data storage, networking, databases, etc. are all available on-demand. The main advantage of
cloud computing is it gives access to many users from single data center which allows users to
store and access their data over the internet without any limitations.
We have all experienced cloud computing at some point. The goal of cloud computing is to
provide easy and flexible access to computing resources and IT services, various which hardware
and software components are required for the proper use of a cloud computing model.
Peoples are using different types of cloud-based services for their email communications,
document management, entertainment and ecommerce services. Examples of cloud-based
services includes but not limited to: Gmail, Google Maps, Amazon, Netflix, PayPal, Spotify,
Adobe Creative Cloud, Kindle, etc.
Benefits of Cloud Computing
Accessibility and mobility- Users may access their tools from anywhere, at any time, and from
any type of devices as long as they are connected to the Internet, which is one of the most
significant benefits of the Cloud.
The ease of access to data in the cloud enables users to rapidly store and retrieve resources from
distant servers, work from any location with an internet connection, and communicate with peers
without being physically present in the same space. Users do not lose any data if their services
fail because the Cloud service provider backs up their data (See Figure2.13).
This greatly helps the implementation of inclusive education which is schools for everybody
through support learning and respond to individual needs. Cloud based services support to
include inclusive technologies like voice recognition, mind mapping, word prediction, text to
speech for editing etc. to accommodate special needs learners.
Flexibility- Services become entirely adaptable and can be changed at any time to meet users’
needs and commercial requirements. User can restrict or enhance the available resources while
paying only for what is used. Another benefit is that resources can be shared, allowing users to
collaborate in real-time on the same content in all domain and work environments (See Figure
2.14).
Updating and scalability – The service provider, as well as taking care of maintenance, takes
care of all service updates, which allow users to focus more effectively on our work and
responsibilities while increasing our efficiency.
Optimized security- When compared to traditional and internal infrastructures, Cloud
Computing provides enhanced security. Companies are finding it increasingly difficult to
effectively secure their own IT systems due to a lack of time, expertise, and budget (Figure 2.15).
Controlled costs- The other advantage is that Cloud Computing allows for greater control of
costs IT infrastructure. We can adjust the resources allocated to its infrastructure depending on
its needs by increasing or decreasing the resources available. By subscribing to Cloud
Computing services, users or companies pay only for what they used (Pay as you go model).
This helps users to no longer deal with costs relating to maintenance and renew computer
equipment (servers, computers, etc.) Companies and users can reduce their IT investments and
optimize their operational and business costs (Figure 2.16)
Activity
All global companies, including Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Alibaba, and other global leading
companies, have turned to Bigdata as a powerful tool for monitoring their customers’ social
media engagements. This help companies to understand how their customers talk about brand
experiences by analyzing large volumes of customer experiences feedbacks and suggestions.
1) What kind of consumer data will be collected to improve organizations’ service delivery
and customer management?
2) How can businesses analyze and use the data they collect from customers?
3) What are the potential drawbacks of using Bigdata technologies and methodologies to
analyze customer data?