Artificial intelligence has gone far beyond, from being a mere fantasy. Most of us would have heard of or read about autonomous driving, manufacturing robots, virtual assistants, disease mapping ,chatbots, booking agents and the list is on. Siri, Alexa and Cortana are almost a part of our lives. In the technological world, Artificial intelligence is a sphere of influence which has resulted in mind-blowing innovations, benefitting the growth of various businesses.
Below are sections describing the innovations of artificial intelligence and machine learning and their benefits reaped by several industries.
Manufacturing
The primary use of artificial intelligence has been observed to be its superb ability to obviate the need for humans to perform the mundane and repetitive tasks, by introducing automation. This was particularly focused on manufacturing and automobile industries wherein the assembly line workers had to do the same tasks repeatedly.
There even was a time or maybe even now it exists partially, where the workforce in certain sectors feel their jobs are in jeopardy because of artificial intelligence.
However, the myth is gradually getting displaced by the fact that Artificial Intelligence eases human tasks and does not eliminate the need for human intervention completely.
Marketing & Human Resources
The functions of marketing and human resources comprise basic building blocks of any business. And let’s not forget that these are areas where your people are involved to a greater extent. Then what role does artificial intelligence play here? Well, it’s very true that the core decision-making or activities such as client interactions cannot be handled by technology. However, even marketing and human resources have some administrative tasks such as responding to routine inquiries of employees, scheduling interviews, collecting and updating employee records and more. Today, most companies use ERP/CRM and with the support of technology it is possible to have a chatbot or virtual assistant embedded which could perform these tasks.
You could revisit the KRAs of your marketing managers or HR business partners to ensure they stay productive, as the non-strategic tasks are taken care of by artificial intelligence !
Online business / e-commerce
Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning play a vital role in online shopping apps. How? All online shopping portals offer search and preferences options for customers to navigate easily and gain access to what they might be looking for. These features work on principles of machine learning algorithms that are based on analyses of user buying patterns and other factors, drawing inferences and identifying the patterns to estimate trends.
Finance & Accounting
Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning find several applications in the finance arena. Machine learning uses large data sets for analyses and recognises specific patterns to draw meaningful insights. This aspect is greatly useful in finance, insurance and banking industries. Machine learning applications in finance include paperwork automation resulting in increased productivity and reduced monotony, making investment decisions by understanding market changes and algorithmic trading which deals with study and analyses of fluctuating stock market prices enabling traders to make significant decisions. In addition, use of chatbots to respond to customer queries, fraud detection and prevention in financial transactions, reducing risks involved and customer data management are some other uses of machine learning.
Healthcare
Healthcare is a core sector catering to all classes of people, needed everywhere and at all time. Artificial intelligence and Machine learning offer remarkable applications and ways to deal with several problems in the healthcare domain. Some of these are – AI-based radiology which helps in diagnosing lesions, tumours and internal bleeding, robust ML algorithms which draw useful insights by analyzing large sets of patient data and recognizing identifiable, hidden patterns and surgical robots which help surgeons during critical operations. Telemedicine and remote surgery are other options, targeted for simple procedures.
Certain other applications include ML-based behavioral modification, using precision medicine techniques for finding different ways to cure certain illnesses, adopting ML-based predictive analytics for conducting clinical trials and research and medical imaging diagnosis through computer vision technology. Besides, the overall objective of applying artificial intelligence is also to enhance the quality of healthcare services offered to large categories of common masses and ensure they sustain a favourable experience.
Real Estate
Besides the industries discussed above, artificial intelligence and machine learning are also carving a niche through their outstanding functionalities in the real estate sector. AI algorithms can analyse large amounts of data on market trends and buying behaviors and this could play a major role in acquiring and retaining customers. A major application of these technologies in real estate is the building automation systems which are based on the Internet of Things (IoT) and include sensors used for various purposes such as security, lighting systems and elevators or lifts. Some companies in this space include PointGrab, TellMePlus etc.
Another striking application of artificial intelligence and machine learning include automation of property management. This functionality enables managers to gain better transparency on the performance of their agents and salespersons, devising strategies to convert prospects and increase business growth. Companies in this category include Appfolio, Zenplace and so on.
Education
Education industry enjoys several benefits obtained from the applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning. AI automates the routine and mundane activities such as grading and other tedious tasks. Artificial intelligence and Machine Learning through the analyses of datasets can ascertain student study patterns, their interests and strengths, which courses they are choosing and why, how the students master various skills and these factors coupled with other useful data can be used to draw meaningful insights and advise students on what career paths would be suitable for them. In addition, artificial intelligence and machine learning can probe into the patterns how students learn and educational universities organize their course structure which could in turn result in new learning methods, transforming the education industry.
Advertising
Advertising is another core domain greatly influenced by artificial intelligence techniques. Ad platforms including third-party networks, social media and others use artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to manage purchase and sale of products or services. In addition, artificial intelligence and machine learning automatically optimize advertising spend and budgets. Moreover, certain ad creation and management software also utilize AI-powered technology such as Phrasee which helps write on Facebook and other sites while WordStream taps machine learning potential to manage advertisement campaigns.
Transportation
Artificial Intelligence has penetrated into all industries, including transportation. AI and ML have contributed to various groundbreaking innovations in the transportation industry. Self-driving or Autonomous vehicles which once used to be a fantasy are now a reality. Autonomous taxis are already in operation in some countries, while still in many other regions, efforts are on to ensure manufacturing of flawless and safe self-driving vehicles.
Traffic management is another subset of transportation which involves wide applications of AI and ML. Due to the processing and optimization capabilities associated with artificial intelligence, it can be used to streamline traffic and reduce congestion, making roads smarter. The predictive abilities of machine learning offer the options of estimating traffic conditions in advance and regulate them, to ensure smooth travel.
Smartphone apps offer AI-powered real-time traffic updates through technologies such as Google Maps or Waze. Customers could get an idea of traffic conditions on their required routes in advance and plan their travel accordingly.
In the modern digital era, artificial intelligence and machine learning are revolutionizing the business practices and the transformation will continue. Businesses will go a long way with the innovations that these technologies are going to bring up. From manufacturing to finance, marketing to education, real estate to advertising and healthcare to transportation, there are no industries that are not influenced by the magical inventions of artificial intelligence and machine learning.