Professional Documents
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AI and the Near Term
Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere, promising self-driving cars,
medical breakthroughs, and new ways of working.
But how do you separate hype from reality? How can your company
apply AI to solve real business problems in 2017?
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The Hype
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The
Reality
Human jobs wont go away, but they will change. Roles will
be more creative and specialized as AI is integrated into the
workday. Better data leads to better math leads to better
predictions, so people using AI can automate the tedious
work and take action on the insights. 4
In the short term
AI does the math faster, saving money by automating
normally complex processes.
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The Nest thermostat remembers what temperatures you like
and adjusts automatically, like turning the temperature down
when youre away and turning it up when youre on your way
home. This saves users time, energy, and money.
Photo: Nest 66
Netflixs predictive analytics recommend what you might
want to watch nextand what studios should create next
based on viewer data. Amazon, iTunes, Pandora, and other
companies use predictive analytics to make better
recommendations. Photo: Netflix 77
Salesforce Einstein applies natural language processing to
analyze text from e-mails exchanged with customers to
estimate the likelihood that a user will buy, detect deals a
team is at risk of losing, and recommend actions to improve
sales. 8
In the longer term
AI will transform industries.
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For example, algorithms help healthcare professionals
recognize anomalies or patterns in medical images with
more accuracy than the human eye. Over time, this can
result in a library of knowledge that can lead to potential
disease cures. 10
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One of AIs promises is to make self-driving cars safer.
Everyday driving decisions, such as whether to stop abruptly
or swerve to avoid hitting an obstacle, will be powered by AI.
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1. Dont fear the robots. The idea is to augment, not replace,
work. AI can absorb cognitive drudgery, like turning data points
into visual charts, calculating complex math formulas, or
summarizing the financial news of the day into a single report.
This frees up people to focus on acting on the insights.
Photo: Flickr user joao_trindade 14
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2. Start with the problem, not the solution. Before launching an
AI program, identify concrete business problems, then consider if
AI can help. For example, rather than ask, What can we use AI
for?, think, Where could we make our operations more efficient?
or What decisions are we making without data?
Photo: Flickr user Robert Couse-Baker 15
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3. Emphasize empathy. The more machines we employ, the
more people skills we need. Leaders must build empathy across
the organization to help employees see impact. Focus on how AI
can help workers add more human value, rather than replace
them. For example, McDonalds added robots to their franchises,
but doesnt plan to cut human jobs. Photo: Flickr user EasySentrisentri 16
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4. Engage the skeptics. Understand what they fear and start
there. Fast Forward Labs Hilary Mason shared an example of
winning buy-in by demonstrating how machine learning could
solve a problem for an overburdened regulatory team.
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5. Remember: Its not magic. If a vendor cant explain their AI
product or service in terms you understand, dont buy it. Much of
whats called AI today (AI personal assistants, anyone?) is
actually humans wrangling a trove of data behind the scenes. If it
doesnt make sense, it might not be real.
Photo: Flickr user JDHancock 18
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Glossary
Some AI terms are used primarily for marketing
purposes, while others are more technical.
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The big picture
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Most important to remember
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Nuts and bolts
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Nuts and bolts
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Recommended reading
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AI: The big picture
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How companies use AI today
An Exclusive Look at Machine Learning at Apple, Backchannel
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