5 Things You Should Know About AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is fast becoming a necessity in the business landscape with its power to positively affect various domains and functions. Its many advantages and ability to create new opportunities has positioned the technology as an investment and asset that businesses are racing to adopt. However, most businesses remain unaware of the technology’s full potential and are unable to leverage it effectively. Here are five things businesses should know about AI:

1. Customizable & Adaptable

AI is a customizable and adaptable solution that can respond to the varying needs, goals, and challenges of businesses. Where a marketer could use AI to predict trends, a retailer could use it to optimize inventory management, or a manufacturer could use it to improve quality control. Businesses should be cognizant of utilizing AI for their specific problems and opportunities.

2. Integrated & Collaborative

AI is an integrated and collaborative system that works best when connected to and coordinated with the other systems and stakeholders that exist within and outside the business. This is because AI analyzes the data taken from other systems to generate suggestions and predictions. Businesses should ensure AI is interwoven into their existing processes, platforms, and people.

3. Biased & Subjective

In practice, AI is a biased and subjective technology because its output is dependent on its input or the corpus it’s trained on. A corpus is a human-curated collection of data created by humans, it can contain human biases and errors which may then affect the fairness and accuracy of the AI. Businesses should be aware of this and act proactively to ensure such biases are avoided.

4. Transparent & Verifiable

AI is a transparent and verifiable technology, defined by the openness and clarity of its systems. Users and stakeholders are able to have access to meaningful information about the system’s functions, data, algorithms, and decision-making processes. This is crucial as AI’s presence in business decisions and outcomes are becoming more prevalent. Businesses should make use of this feature to verify and validate any outputs in order to uphold responsibility and confidence.

5. Dynamic & Evolving

AI has a dynamic and evolving capability due to its continuous advancements, resulting in a technology that is able to have its scope and potential adapt to the changes in the business environment. In effect, an AI system which analyzes customer behavior can evolve into one that anticipates customer needs. Businesses should therefore strive to innovate and experiment with new ways of utilizing the technology in order to make full use of its potential and power.

As a dynamic and evolving technology, AI requires constant monitoring and improvement through data collection, analysis, modeling, testing, deployment, evaluation, and feedback. This never-ending process allows AI to improve over time in terms of accuracy and relevancy. Rather than expect perfect performance or instant results immediately, businesses should be prepared to invest time and resources to regularly train, refine, and update their AI systems.