AI Isn't Just for the IT Guys

Artificial Intelligence, or AI in short, is not new.

It has been around since the 1960s. Technological advances has enabled greater processing speed and access to vast amount of rich data. Whether you realise it or not, AI is beginning to aggressively take root in our everyday lives. When you are using Netflix, YouTube or Spotify, AI is making the decisions for you. When you are using Google maps to navigate the roads or book a Grab car, AI is doing the work for you. When you make an error when ordering groceries online, chances are you are talking to an AI chatbot rather than a human being.

In some ways or other, AI is impacting our lives every day.

AI isn’t just for the IT guys anymore.

Chatbots

Chatbots are popular for customer service because they offer 24/7 support and efficient replies. Beyond simple product enquiries, they are developed to create personalised and engaging experiences for consumers. For instance, restaurants are using robots to replace service staff and take over functions such as taking orders, serving dishes and receiving payment. Through AI automation, these “intelligent” restaurants reduce labour costs and create personalised and novel dining experiences for customers. Another example is where grocery stores increases consumer interactions through the use of chatbots. Shoppers can get information on various products, recipe suggestions, nutritional value of food and be rewarded with coupons or vouchers as they go through the stores. Routine grocery shopping trips are made interesting with AI chatbots deployed in stores and create value for everyday shoppers.

Health care

AI has huge potential to redesign healthcare, improve patient safety and medical diagnoses. A report revealed that medical errors are the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer. Let us think about radiology as an example. Machine learning enables healthcare providers to analyse large amounts of data (such as MRIs, X-rays, etc) in less time, supporting them in diagnosis and decision-making. This speeds up the workflow for doctors and reduces waiting times for patients in getting accurate and timely treatment for their conditions. AI could also be as accessible as the mobile device you own. Virtual health assistants could keep track of your health conditions, remind you to take medications and attend health appointments. They could even send alerts to your physician if they detect adverse symptoms, triggering on-site care if necessary. Wearables are also becoming common for keeping health in check, by monitoring your heart rate, blood pressure levels and monitor patients post-surgery for any complications. All these innovations have proved to be beneficial for those who are keen to take a pro-active approach to maintaining good health.

Social media

The average daily time spent on social is 116 minutes a day. But did you know artificial intelligence is playing a big role in what we see on social media? The music that are recommended to you on Spotify, the friends’ posts you see on Facebook and the results of a product search on Google are the results of algorithms and analytics.

Artificial intelligence has inadvertently influenced consumers’ buying behaviour and habits. Businesses are tapping on artificial intelligence to learn more about consumers in order to adapt their marketing strategies and business so that they can offer personalised listings for them.

Finance 

You would probably have received a SMS notification informing you of your purchase after walking out from a retail shop. This service could save you thousands of dollars someday. Using location data and purchase patterns, artificial intelligence can identify customer behaviour patterns that are out of the ordinary. Analysing these data can provide the possibility of early detection of any abnormal behaviour that may lead to financial fraud or theft. Financial fraud has been consistent throughout the years, but detecting fraud using manual labor can be a time-consuming and tedious job. Leveraging technology such as artificial intelligence reduces the risk of human error or tampering and increases the efficiency of crime detection.

Artificial intelligence is no longer a remote possibility or science fiction but a real phenomenon in our daily lives today. For the most part, these emerging technologies are augmenting existing functions of business, offloading routine and monotonous tasks from humans and providing ease and sophistication in our lives.

Artificial intelligence isn’t just for the IT guys anymore and it will forever change the way we do things.