It is believed that artificial intelligence will be the major driving force behind the next industrial transformation. Artificial intelligence will deliver some of the most significant breakthroughs of the 21st century. Ranging from autonomous vehicles to virtual assistants, artificial intelligence will heavily transform the industrial ecosystem in the coming years. Artificial intelligence will also aid in the diagnosis of diseases and help in the treatment at an early stage. With this background, it becomes clear that artificial intelligence will lead to the creation of a large number of jobs.
In the present times, we are seeing a major shift in the academic world as artificial intelligence courses are being prioritized by various engineering colleges. For instance, electrical engineering colleges have supplemented their curriculum with additional credits to artificial intelligence and machine learning. Moreover, such colleges are slowly transitioning to full-fledged undergraduate and postgraduate programs in data science, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.
AI education
A report by McKinsey Global Institute points out that an average of 33 percent of the people in South Asia who are involved in sectors devoid of AI will need to shift jobs by 2030. This report is important because it advises us to take concrete measures towards AI education and AI skilling. That said, the report by McKinsey is confronted by a report from the World economic forum which considers that advancements in AI may lead to the creation of more than fifty million additional jobs by 2030.
AI education can broadly be divided into four strategic areas which include machine learning, decision sciences, cognitive sciences, and Human-AI interaction. The broad areas of study under machine learning include machine intelligence, text mining, data structures, data analytics, supervised learning, unsupervised learning, reinforcement learning as well as deep learning. The areas of study under decision sciences include neural computing, automation, cognitive robotics, logical reasoning, and kinematics. In the domain of cognitive sciences, the broad area of the study includes semantics, ontology, perception, natural language processing, text processing, information retrieval as well as computer vision. Finally, the subdomains that are included under human-AI interaction include humanoid technology, robotic perception, interactive robotics, emotional robotics, and the design of human-centered machines.
The application domains of AI
The two most important application domains of artificial intelligence are business intelligence and cyber security. Artificial intelligence also finds applications in supply chain management and the construction sector. Artificial intelligence has been greatly helpful in the fabrication of learning platforms as well as automated medical diagnostic systems. Artificial intelligence is also at the center of technology that gave rise to self-driven cars. However, these are only some of the selected applications of artificial intelligence. It needs to be noted at this point in time that a 2019 Gartner report concluded that there has been a 200% increase in the applications of AI in the last three years. These numbers are enough to give an estimate of the range of applications of artificial intelligence in the present times.
Assessing the impact of AI
The impact of artificial intelligence can be assessed from the level of automation that it has brought in different sectors like e-commerce and inventory management. Artificial intelligence has improved productivity, efficiency, and management in sectors like logistics and supply chain management. In addition to this, artificial intelligence has also been at the center of providing immersive experiences in the gaming industry with the help of augmented reality, merged reality, and virtual reality. In the times of the present pandemic, artificial intelligence has gone a long way in addressing the basic healthcare needs of the people. Artificial Intelligence has provided accessibility and improved awareness related to vaccines and medicines. The data processing capabilities in the medical sector have been drastically improved with the help of artificial intelligence. The tracking of previous records of the patients has made diagnosis easier. With the help of its problem-solving approach and advanced algorithms, artificial intelligence has been able to improve the security infrastructure in smart cities.
AI for future
In the near future, we would expect more people to research AI business solutions. Artificial intelligence has the capability to design smart systems which will change the face of technology and make the lives of people much more comfortable. For instance, smart home robots are being developed in industrial sectors like consumer electronics which perform basic functions like monitoring of residential premises. Hanson robotics is working to develop advanced versions of humanoid robots. The company claims that such robots would be able to comprehend human emotions and interact with humans seamlessly. In the healthcare industry, artificial intelligence would help in collaborative data sharing. This would significantly improve clinical analysis as well as prognostic technology with the help of real-time data processing. The next level of chatbots will be conceived that may provide advice to people and assist them in decision-making processes.
Concluding remarks
In one word, the applications of AI and its relevance to people-centric technologies would exponentially increase in the times to come.
