Imagine you’re scrolling through pages on Amazon looking for the next great book or just ordering some more paper towels. You see that recommendation Amazon just gave you, one that’s right up your alley? That’s artificial intelligence at its finest – ever-present though many don’t realize how much it is engrained in everyday life. In this instance, AI is learning your shopping tendencies and using them to show you other products you are likely to be interested in; just one example of how it works in the consumer arena.
When it comes to businesses, artificial intelligence takes menial tasks off your plate.
For instance, there is x.ai, an artificially intelligent personal assistant who schedules meetings for you. By connecting your calendar with “Amy”, the name of your magical computer-created being, you now allow her to do your grunt work. When you receive a meeting request, you CC Amy on the email, who then takes over and schedules the meeting for you by finding an open time in your schedule. She will continue the process by emailing with your colleagues until the meeting is officially scheduled, at which point she’ll send the invite for you; your colleagues won’t even know she’s just a machine doing all the work.
Artificial intelligence is also helping engineers use their time more efficiently saving their companies millions of dollars.
GE uses artificial intelligence to build a digital “twin” of its jet engines, allowing engineers to see when a jet engine may need maintenance or inspection. Prior to this, engineers had to follow a schedule or decide on their own when to inspect an engine. This takes the engine out of use, and costs the company money and the engineer’s time, even if there ultimately isn’t anything wrong. Artificial intelligence allows these engineers to focus on the problems they actually need to solve.
These are just a few of the many examples of how artificial intelligence is changing the world. However, none of these developments would be a reality if it weren’t for the cloud.
Until the cloud came along, computing power was expensive. Constantly running an algorithm or having a machine continuously learn and organize data would be a significant cost, making it less feasible for a company to use it effectively without burning through the bankroll. Today, the cloud’s low cost computing power allows artificial intelligence to flourish.
Artificial intelligence continues to increase in sophistication, and organizations of all shapes and sizes have the opportunity to utilize the cloud to their own advantage. By working with a specialty firm that can be a guide through the process, companies and organizations can focus on their overall goals and not be sidelined by technology issues.