i3 - September/October 2019 - 33

DID YOU KNOW...
More than

More than

40%

30%

"The foundation is being laid quickly
and quietly in plain sight as deployment
of natural language interfaces (chat bots,
of consumers
of web browsing
digital assistants and intelligent RPA) as
believe that AI will
will be done without
the primary point of contact with cusimprove their lives
a screen by 2020
tomers becomes pervasive," says Nevala.
From a practical perspective, some of
-Strategy Analytics
-Gartner
the most important developments may
97% of mobile
be in computer vision and - for consumusers already
ers - facial recognition technology (FRT)
use AI
specifically. "AI is moving beyond basic
-Creative Strategies
object or image detection (i.e., "That is
Kimberly") to analyze sentiment and
intent based on an object's affect (posRoughly
ture, facial expression and movement).
The benefits and risks inherent in such
applications are huge," she says.
But there are naturally plenty of fears
and, frankly, misconceptions that plague
Nearly half of all
By 2020, 85% of
AI's growth spurt, even from inside the
Americans use
customers'
relaindustry itself. "The biggest misconcepdigital voice
tionships
with
busidevices
already
use
tion still is that AI is intelligent," says
assistants
ness
enterprises
AI-powered
voice
Navala. "AI's dependence on data is both
-Pew Research
will
be
managed
assistants
the greatest strength and weakness."
without
human
-IHS
Markit
For developers, these ethical hurdles
involvement
are less about addressing specific prob-Gartner
lems, says Navala, and more about overcoming an overreliance on the
technology itself to detect and ameliorate bias or avert ethical quandries.
In Forbes, Grant Freeland of Boston
Consulting Group acknowledged that
AI will only ever be as good as its human
creators. "So, what do we know about
AI? We know that AI algorithms -
which are intended to trigger various
responses by workers or machines - are created by humans, and are therefore
of AI on business, reports Accenture, is prosubject to human error, bias, and a host of other potential flaws the techies would
jected to increase labor productivity by 40%
rather not talk about. AI is no more infallible than you or I."
while enabling people to make better use of
Indeed, technology - AI included - cannot independently decide what is right
their time. It'll also likely eliminate certain jobs.
and wrong or assess broad, societal implications of AI applications. "Addressing
And as for implanting chips in human brains,
these questions and determining what is right or fair in a given context," says
well, Musk says it's just one way the technology
Navala, "requires a multi-disciplinary approach. Developing that collaborative
can potentially enhance human life. "We cannot
network and practice will be a requisite part of working as an AI developer."
predict what we might achieve when this intelOne way these issues are being considered is at the government level. Earlier this
ligence is magnified by the tools AI may proyear, for example, the White House issued an executive order aimed at maintaining
vide," he said in a letter, "but the eradication of
American leadership in AI, which emphasizes the need to prepare the American workdisease and poverty are not unfathomable."
force for jobs of the future as technology replaces humans and humans will need to
Or as Andy Kessler put it in a Wall Street
train for other opportunities. CTA's 21st Century Workforce Council is collaborating
Journal column, "The future happens, just
with tech companies to address the skills gap in the American workforce. The impact
not the way most people think."

Billion

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i3 - September/October 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of i3 - September/October 2019