By: Utpal Chakraborty, Lead Architect

In the historic overview of Artificial Intelligence, AI Winter is referred to as a period of decreased funding and interest in the research of artificial intelligence. The term was given birth as an analogy to the idea of a nuclear winter. Since then, it has continued a roller coaster sort of a journey that includes disappointment, criticism, funding cuts, renewed interest years etc.

“Artificial Intelligence” is a hot topic today among all industries, whether it’s IT, Banking & Finance, Manufacturing, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Retail, Customer Service, Education, Transportation or any other. It has become the top priority for Chief Technology Officer (CTO) & Chief Information Officer (CIO) of any organization. It has paved its way in and is solving many business problems in all the major industries.
According to a research conducted by Forbes, till 2035 AI would double the economic growth rates in almost over 20 countries. It will also bring significant increment of almost 40% in labor productivity in the coming years. This highly developing new demand of AI has a noteworthy involvement in financial institutions, especially for those financial institutions’ own financial functions.

There are reasons that are playing a vital role in the acceleration of the use of artificial intelligence; big distribution of computing powers, reduction in the cost of data storage and hype around open source frameworks, are some of them although there are many more.

In recent years, Artificial Intelligence has been proved crucial for the banking industry. The organizations that are working in this sector need to be equal to their competition in order to increase their stability as an evolving firm. Several amazing Artificial Intelligence applications are working in the banking sector that carry a high possibility to bring a radical change in the banks’ financial functions. Some of them are:

• AML Pattern Detection
• Chatbots
• Algorithmic Trading
• Fraud Detection
• Customer Recommendations

In the 1900s, a whole row of workers would stand all day long to make money by putting together pieces of a product, a repetitive task at a time. But today the manufacturing industry has jumped leaps and bounds to enter the stage of its breakthrough using AI to its rescue and development.  For instance, an aircraft factory churning out associated products detects a defect. This data is immediately signaled to the cloud computer, and the defective piece is replaced. Not only is this a practical and a steadfast approach, but it is cost saving for the manufacturers too. Application of Artificial Intelligence to manufacturing processes requires a particular number of basic essential technological techniques and innovation. A networked factory is deemed to be smart, to which data from various business functions like supply chain, production line, and quality control are connected to create a greatly coherent and intellectual design engine where Artificial Intelligence plays a major role.

In legal organizations, “Back off all the multinational law firms that charge by the hour!” because AI is the most efficient and time reducing way there is to solve legal hurdles of summarizing and documentation. Something that would take the human alternative days to do, AI will complete in minutes, and that too without any errors.

In media and entertainment, the applications that are working under the banner of AI are still not that mature, but it will not take long when AI takes over the whole industry. The single most important technological factor involved in shaping the media business today is, Artificial Intelligence. Traditionally, there were two focal points of competitive distinction amongst companies: distribution and content. Today, however, thanks to the internet that everybody can gain access and widely distribute their content.  So the competitive advantage of distribution has been replaced by a new one called relevancy. Artificial Intelligence can easily provide contextual relevancy that can set the bar very high for a firm acquiring it.

In life care, Artificial Intelligence is not an old concept. Used to assisting doctors and being a great cause to reduce mortality rates and provide an accurate diagnosis, AI has covered this field to in its broad spectrum. While AI might never replace a human doctor in the hospital, therapeutic robots are there to help and reduce errors that are a result of the human exhaustion and brain fatigue.

Also, Driver less cars or talking to your cars is not out of a sci-fi movie anymore. It is utter shocking reality of today where cars move around without having someone in the driving seat. The times have come where you can just sit back and relax as your car itself would take you to the destination. And, this all has been achieved thanks to Artificial Intelligence.

The tech giants are running in an intense race for achieving the best of artificial intelligence that is to offer in this industry.

With leading names like IBM launched Watson; Google already up with its API.ai and Microsoft Cortana paving its way, Artificial intelligence is creating opportunities on a huge scale for the whole world. All these globally renowned names have been struggling to steer ahead of one another in this game of technological advancement in the field of AI. It is believed that if there is an industry where artificial intelligence can work in its true colors, is communication and Information technology. With constant upgradations to match the flow of the studies and researches being conducted, every new software or hardware that makes it to market should stem from a new idea. Artificial intelligence has become that very idea.

Thus, the fact that the AI winter was there as a hurdle, is now long gone. The winter period is finally over. And every industry has taken in the investment of artificial intelligence that would help build the industry further. As well as the application of artificial intelligence would lead to leaps and bounds of providing help to the human kind. Whether it’s IT, manufacturing retail, health care or any industry one could think of and artificial intelligence would prevail and change the world for better!

References:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI_winter
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveculp/2017/02/15/artificial-intelligence-is-becoming-a-major-disruptive-force-in-banks-finance-departments/#3ee51ce84f62