The subject of artificial intelligence (AI) seems to be reaching the population more as a novelty that is seen only in TV series or in science fiction movies. The reality is that people already benefit from AI applications and many don't know it.
AI is already a reality that will facilitate many activities for human beings. In this article we do not pretend to give a class on how AI is defined, who invented it or how many types of AI exist; But, if we will address the uses at the level of companies and institutions, whether they are dedicated to commerce or services.
However, we could not help but remember the first ideas about AI brought to the small screen: The robots, appeared in series such as The Jetsons (1962) and Lost in Space (1965) which were perhaps the first series of fiction after the term Artificial Intelligence first appeared in 1956 by John McCarthy together with Claude Shannon and Marvin Minsky at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.
It is our interest to motivate senior executives of companies such as CTO, CEO or CIO to take the first step of approach to AI that has already been recognized as the fourth industrial revolution of humanity that will significantly change our way of life, improve the quality of life of society and the way of doing business.
Although some are already aware of this reality, it is worth noting that routine activities for us have the AI component behind them. We will mention a few just for brief reference to show the power of AI:
Virtual voice assistant: One of the most recent to come into action is the virtual assistant of Amazon (Alexa) or Apple (Siri) and Google Assistant. Voice commands make it easy to interact with devices.
They are equivalent to the virtual assistant but in written form, for example on a website; They are used to answer simple questions or FAQ calls. Already many companies use it and allow to relieve the workload of human operators who serve users who have not been able to be satisfied with the chatbot.
Google is the one that makes the most progress due to the large number of users who give feedback on their translations daily; It is one of the advantages of AI, allowing learning on the fly (Machine Learning) to improve decisions and results that are delivered to the user.
It is very common to receive a purchase suggestion from Amazon, after having bought an item; or from Spotify or YouTube when it presents us with a song that it supposes is to our liking.
This is the navigation system preferred by any tourist and the inhabitants of a city to orient themselves between the streets and highways; they let themselves be carried away by this very timely guide, receiving various path options to avoid roadblocks. Its level of precision has been increasing surprisingly for many, but this is but another of the advantages of AI improvement.
It is almost certain that at least once you have checked the weather forecast on your smartphone to make sure that you will have good weather for a walk or for a short plane flight. However, AI can also help predict to farmers when is the best time to plant or to a stockbroker when to buy.
Even though the results of the application of AI are already being seen, the road ahead for its effective and wide implementation has several challenges that must be overcome as more use of this technology is made.
Some of the most discussed AI challenges are:
As has already been seen, AI is already in use in many things of daily life, however, the dissemination of its applications and benefits, in general, are unknown by the vast majority of company and business executives, who are unaware of the scope than its implementation. This challenge implies support from governments in research and development, stimulating innovation in AI
The use of this AI technology implies new interaction scenarios for society that do not have the legal framework to specify responsibilities. In particular, strong AI systems with the ability to make decisions that could create a claim or accident such as robots, autonomous cars, copyright or algorithmic biases in personnel selection should be regulated.
At the international level, in Europe, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), achieved in May 2019, that 42 countries the acceptance of AI principles. these address ethical issues such as the Rule of Law, Human Rights, Transparency and Reliability, among others.
One of the principles indicates the obligation to warn people that they are interacting with a machine and not a human being; in this way, deception and fraud with virtual AI assistants that emulate a person are avoided.
The main input of AI is the data generated by various sources and millions of users interacting every day with technological devices and social networks. They are produced in each source with a different text, audio, video or image format.
The immense volume of data that powers AI systems requires enormous storage and hardware power. It will be a challenge to use, maintain and finance that level of computing power; which is necessary to collect, understand and transform them into useful information for decision making and AI self-learning.
Like all new technology, its development and implementation must address problems that arise from its impact on society and the adoption of new life patterns that change or break current systems. In the case of AI problems these are some of the most prominent:
Due to the current applications where AI replaces human intervention, there is resistance to change and fear of generating unemployment. Examples of jobs that disappear would be: The driver in autonomous cars such as forklifts in industries; the call center or customer service operator with virtual assistants.
World-class institutions have already shown the results of studies where it is evident that for each job that disappears with AI, two or more new jobs are generated, where the human being contributes in new tasks and with better salaries.
For effective use of AI, it must be integrated into the systems that generate data for its operation. Current languages and programs must be integrated so that the process is not affected in any of its stages: input - process - output. The incorporation of AI should not interrupt the operation of the system from which it will obtain data for its feeding.
The guidelines that have been given to initiate a regulation in the study, development and implementation of AI are very recent: Only until May 2019, in Europe, institutions such as the OECD already achieved a first agreement between 42 countries, with guidelines and intergovernmental policies , under an agreement of international standards for the creation and design of AI systems that are safe, reliable, impartial (without bias) and sufficiently robust.
In the United States, it was only until February 2019 that Executive Order 13859 was issued from the presidency, which sets the guidelines for a national strategic plan for AI research and development. The government of the United States is committed to supporting AI initiatives such as: promoting its development, knowledge and dissemination, training staff, international promotion, among others.
With all that is exposed in this article, our intention is to motivate technology companies, and also those that make use of it, to take the first step on this promising path that artificial intelligence offers us; this is a good time to board the train of Artificial Intelligence, which has been the subject of many fiction films but is now a reality.
Right now, you as a business owner, CEO, CTO or CIO, can consult our AI portfolio and you will be able to check out the various applications where we have proven experience. A very important advantage for companies based in the United States is that we are a nearshore company with almost 20 years of service in the North American market; even with two American headquarters: San Diego and Irvine, as well as three in Mexico.
You can consult with us without feeling compromised, being advised today can be the key to success to face the tough competitive times that are approaching with the implementation of AI in many fields of companies.
