The growing role of AI in tech
Just a few years ago, artificial intelligence was the subject of science fiction. Now, not a single day goes by without some AI or machine learning driven advance. To be clear, when we talk about AI today, we refer to machine learning. It is using artificial intelligence to teach computers without any actual programming. Even in such a short span of time, it is already changing the way we do things.
Let us look at a few examples of machine learning implementation:
Sales – Platforms like salesforce.com are using machine learning to help sales teams target leads. Using data gathered from years of sales, the system could flag which leads have a higher probability of translating into sales.
Imaging – The primary example is of Google using machine learning to teach a computer how to upscale an image. The training used several thousand images. First, it analyzed the full-size image and then an image about a quarter of its size. It was then able to take any smaller image and produce a larger version with as much or more detail.
Language – Google also uses machine learning extensively on languages. The primary use so far has been in translation. For that to work, however, it required training on understanding the languages and then translating.
This is a small sample of how AI is becoming the next big thing in tech. So far, Google is in the lead with IBM not so far behind. Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft are all building out machine learning capability.
