Reframing AI: From Cloud-based to the Edge, AI is Expanding its Reach

In this episode of Futurum Tech Webcast, host Daniel Newman and Senior Analyst and Research Director Olivier Blanchard discuss the state and direction of the ever-expanding world of artificial intelligence (AI), and how, from the cloud to the edge, AI is expanding its reach including how chipmakers are driving the future of AI.

In their discussion, Olivier and Daniel explored the business, societal, and other broad implications of this expansion, as well as how will these different tiers of AI technology will likely work together. They also touched on the following:

- The evolution of AI from a cloud and data center focus to on-device AI, and the importance of that evolution to the types of experiences that it creates for users.

- The challenges of cloud-based AI benefits, including latency issues, connectivity issues, overburdened networks, and outages, all of which result in performance issues and frustrations for users.

- The binary model of cloud-based AI and device-based AI and what that third layer in the edge can do.

- How AI is increasingly finding its way into smart phones (in ways that users might not even notice), some interesting use case examples, and where that is particularly useful.

- The role of chipsets, like Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865 chipsets, and some of the impressive functionality they are serving up — and what that means for the future of on-device communication.

- How AI is finding its way into factories, cities, and utilities and what that means for the future.

- AI’s role in healthcare, especially during an epidemic, when speed is critical.

- The role of AI in autonomous vehicles that will someday become the norm.

- How AI is transforming enterprise-class analytics and democratizing enterprise software by making it not only more effective, but also more accessible and user-friendly.

Olivier and Daniel also shared a little about their latest book (Human/Machine: The future of our relationship with machines) which examines how bots, voice interfaces, automatic scheduling, and autofill are already transforming the way we work, from speeding up the process of drafting an email to streamlining document creation and project management.