Hype Vs Reality

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?
In September 2016, Luminary Labs convened 30 executives in healthcare, machine learning, and analytics for a grounded discussion on these questions with machine learning expert Hilary Mason, founder and CEO of Fast Forward Labs, and Sandy Allerheiligen, VP
of data science and predictive and economic modeling at Merck.
Here’s a synopsis of what we discussed, and what AI learnings your
business should keep in mind for 2017.
We’ve all seen the sensational headlines: The robots are
coming, and they’ll take our jobs! AI can do your job faster
and more accurately than you can!
Reality
Human jobs won’t 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.
It makes your life easier even now, behind the scenes.
This is what it looks like today.
The Nest thermostat remembers what temperatures you like
and adjusts automatically, like turning the temperature down when you’re away and turning it up when you’re on your way home. This saves users time, energy, and money.
Netflix’s predictive analytics recommend what you might
want to watch next—and what studios should create next—
based on viewer data. Amazon, iTunes, Pandora, and other companies use predictive analytics to make better
recommendations.
Photo: Netflix 7
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.
9
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
ANNOUNCING
AUDI AND NVIDIA BUILD Al CAR
World's Most Advanced Autonomous Vehicles
Powered by NVIDIA Al Car Computer
On the road 2020
One of AI’s 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.
Photo: NVIDIA Coporation 11
AI will help redesign the entire shopping experience, optimizing everything with more and better data. Retailers will seamlessly stock the precise number of goods needed on shelves at any given time, and know which product at which price should be highlighted