Weekly AI Digest: The Future of Artificial Intelligence

Reid Hoffman, known for his success as a PayPal executive as well as co-founder at LinkedIn, was featured on CBS last week. In his interview, he talks briefly about the future of Artificial Intelligence. Acknowledging we should be cautious in our approach, Hoffman talks in depth about the many opportunities this new technology can provide. I found this particular opening statement very powerful:

“All big new technology has both opportunity and threat.”

AI technology in itself is a tool, one that is meant to help improve the lives of people both as workers and consumers. This potential is something that our co-founder, Alain Kaeser, wanted to harness with Yseop’s technology. At the moment, users are forced to adapt to the way a machine thinks and writes. Data insights are limited to those that can code and have a knack for numbers. But what if this wasn’t the case? What if a computer could communicate in a language we could understand? The future of Artificial Intelligence technology can help make data democratization a reality.

Being cautious for how humans apply the tool is valid, but it should not be a distraction for exploring the potential opportunities that can move a wide variety of industries into a new era. We’re already starting to see some of the benefits of AI today in industries like finance, retail, and manufacturing.

Watch the full 3 minute interview here:

Some other articles from last week that you might find interesting:

• AI-Fueled Customer Service Delivers Real Results
  AI-powered technology is making its way into almost every area of business. This article from Forrester takes an in-depth look into how AI is helping improve the buyer’s journey, from pre-sales to close. (Source: Forrester)
• What’s Up Those Baseball Sleeves? Lots Of Data, And Privacy Concerns
  An interesting discussion on wearables from the perspective of professional sports. While there are many great reasons in support of wearable technology for athletes, there are still concerns for data privacy. (Source: NPR)
• Germany Has Developed a Set of Ethical Guidelines for Self-Driving Cars
  Take a deeper look at the potential ethical and logistical questions when it comes to making policies about self-driving cars. The short answer: it’s very complicated. (Source: World Economic Forum)