Our everyday lives are influenced by Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology. If you’ve used mapping/navigation technology, streaming services, social media or voice-activated digital assistants like Apple Siri or Amazon Alexa, then you know first-hand the impacts of AI on contemporary life.
AI is a behind-the-scenes tool that makes technology easy-to-use and highly functional. Without AI, the platforms that dominate our lives would not be as popular. AI’s popularity is revealed through survey results. In February, 2019, 500 people were surveyed by tech journalist Sarah Sharifi. She found that 78% of those surveyed used social social media at home, 77% relied on AI for video and music streaming, while 74% found their way around town using mapping and navigation tools.
Personalized Retail and Shopping
Data science and machine learning have made tremendous progress in anticipating customer behaviors and making personalized recommendations. Amazon credits its recommendation engine with driving 35% of sales. Recommendation engines use AI to collect information from similar customer purchases and then create shopper profiles. The system customizes calls to action and customer loyalty programs.
AI applies this collected information to recommendation algorithms. Not only does AI streamline the buying experience, but it offers products to customers before customers even know that they want a product.
AI-based virtual fitting room technology is replacing brick-and-mortar fitting rooms during the coronavirus pandemic. Many retailers are trying this feature for virtual try on glasses, jewelry, hats, clothes and even shoes.
AI-powered Web search
Thanks to AI, Google has transformed from a basic search engine that would “guess” future key-strokes into a machine learning-first company.
Searchers have a wide variety of services to choose from: language translation, video search, image search. Technology like Google Lense powers image searches. Users can find products when all they have is a picture. Thanks to its ease-of-use and adaptable features, Google search has beaten back all of its rivals.
Search engines are the interface between human users and the digital world. The technology has to “understand” both human language and technological feats. A search engine that is fluent in both can quickly locate information and provide answers. Google and Microsoft use NLP (Natural Language Processing) technology to bridge the gap between human language and search engine applications.
Having started from “guessing” what will be typed next when writing messages on mobiles, the predictive text technology has transformed into AI–based text generators which are able to imitate human writers.
AI Assistants
Everyday communication has taken on new dimensions with the rise of voice assistants like Siri, Alexa and Cortana. Even people without voice assistants communicate with chatbots or even smart mirrors.
Natural Language Processing technology streamlines human-tech communication. First, human speech or writing is transformed into machine readable data. The data interacts with AI algorithms and returns answers.
Reservations at salons and restaurants can be done ahead of time with smart AI assistants. Working from home has become less isolated because of virtual office set-ups.
AI makes daily life convenient during the best of times, but it has recently become even more important to our wellbeing. The pandemic has made it almost impossible to receive walk-in services at salons, gyms or restaurants. As a result, AI has become many users’ personal fitness coach thanks to human pose estimation technology.
Business Processes Enhanced with AI
Typical business processes such as client interactions, internal operations and employee management are handled digitally to reduce operational costs. Now that many employees work from home the benefits of digital processes are more than simply cost effective. They are necessary.
In order to remain competitive, small businesses are turning to e-commerce platforms that easily pivot to virtual retail sales. Video conferencing software and automated customer support have become essential tools for remote marketers.
AI-enhanced CRMs and smart time trackers help supervisors manage productivity even when employees are on separate schedules or in different time zones.
Managers are able to track performance using AI and machine learning-enhanced schedulers and unbiased performance reviews. Data is granular and allows for reporting on areas of employee strength and opportunities for improvement.
HR departments are moving away from traditional, time-consuming hiring practices and turning to virtual and AI-driven solutions. AI tech filters thousands of applications and finds the most qualified candidates expeditiously.
AI in Healthcare
Global health can be improved through intentional implementation of AI technologies. Over the course of our current global health crisis, public health officials are witnessing AI-enhanced healthcare technologies’ benefits.
Pandemic detection. Toronto-based company BlueDot developed an AI app that was one of the first to identify the emerging COVID-19 virus. Data scientists published a research paper that outlined the early warning systems that can detect global pandemics.
Vaccine Creation. The COVID-19 Open Research Data Set is a hub for all antiviral medications and possible vaccinations. The research data set is continuously updated with machine-readable data. Scientists pull data from the set, apply it to AI templates and are able to automate repetitive tasks. In this way, AI speeds up the development of vaccines and medicines.
Masked Face Recognition. Very early into the pandemic, people realized that many facial recognition technology could not support mask-wearers. Computer vision technologists used AI to update imagery and improve data sets. Resultant technology can identify mask-wearers at 95% accuracy rates.
Diagnostic Tests. CT scans can be difficult and time-consuming to read. Increases in patients with respiratory problems can cause a bottle-neck of CT scans. Machine learning rapidly detects anomalies in CT scans, bringing highly accurate and swift readings for doctors, nurses and patients.
AI is shaping the new normal. From our healthcare, to our daily activities and our worksite processes, AI technology is evolving, improving our lives.
