Living the AI dream

Since AI moved out of the domain of science fiction into reality, there have been numerous predictions of how the technology is going to change the world. From threats that AI will take over – and ruin – the world, to expectations that AI-driven tools will become mainstream in the next year, every expert, business leader, and man on the street has an opinion and a forecast around what the future will bring.

The reality is that it’s hard to predict the long-term effects of AI when it keeps evolving in near real time. By the time you finish reading an article about AI, for example, a new development makes it feel obsolete. In just a few months last year, generative AI jumped from laboratories and theoretical applications into the hands of anyone with a computer or phone.

Everyday life involves AI already, and in most cases, we barely notice our interactions with artificial intelligence. We expect platforms and chatbots to be conversational as well as personalised, and as close to indistinguishable to a human as possible. We have learned to rely on AI-driven solutions that have been integrated into tools we have been using for years. AI is everywhere, and the future will see even more applications of the technology.

There’s no doubt that many of the predictions about AI will come to pass, sooner rather than later. As AI continues to evolve and become more integrated into our daily lives, it’s far more beneficial to look at what AI can actually do for us today, rather than focusing on predictions looking at the next few years or decades.

Remaking industries

AI is already enhancing productivity, efficiency, and convenience across multiple industries. AI is reshaping the banking and finance sector, for example, by enhancing security, efficiency, and personalised services. From fraud detection and prevention, to risk assessment and compliance monitoring, and everything in between, АI-driven tасtiсs are already disrupting traditional trading and investing рrасtices. АI algorithms are being employed in the management of equity funds, and credit scoring and loan approval are increasingly being automated.

Future so-called robo-advisors driven by AI are expected to become more prevalent in the financial sector in the future. A third of high-net-worth individuals, according to Wealthramp, use robo-advisors and digital tools to execute investments.

AI is also revolutionising healthcare. The primary focus of the healthcare industry for the past few years has been gathering precise and pertinent data about patients. As a result, AI is already being used for things like personalised treatment plans and electronic health records management. We are almost at the point where АI саn diagnose diseases based on symptoms by reading data from а fitness band or а person’s mediсаl history, analysing раtterns and suggesting аррrорriаte mediсаtiоn, which саn be ordered easily through рhоne apps.

Education is another sector where AI’s impact will be substantial, now, and in the future. While we are not yet at the point where a personalised AI tutor will deliver lessons, we are already seeing AI complementing current conventional teaching methods. Gamification is being used to increase engagement and motivation in many corporate training programmes, as are interactive simulations and scenarios designed to create immersive learning experiences that encourage active participation and knowledge retention.

As AI tools like Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Natural Language Generation (NLG) become more mature, the way organisations approach skills development will change, providing more personalised, adaptive, and immersive learning experiences to empower employees to acquire new skills. For example, employees who have to be up to date on relevant laws or compliance measures will be able to access programmes tailored to their existing knowledge as well as the necessary outcomes, and these will be updated automatically as and when they are needed.

In the future, intelligent tutoring systems will supplement human teachers to help guide people down their personalised learning paths. Learning will become a lifelong pursuit rather than focused on the certificate system most companies currently use as a demonstration of knowledge. By providing access to ongoing training opportunities and resources, AI will help employees engage in self-directed learning activities to continuously expand their skills and expertise. This will be particularly important as some jobs are eliminated by AI. New roles will need to emerge to train, explain, and oversee the AI systems, so employers will need people in data science, AI training, robotics, and other roles interacting with advanced technologies.

Full steam ahead

According to World Economic Forum research, AI is projected to create around 97 million new jobs in the next two years. Within the next five years, the trust in AI will grow to the point that it will be part of our daily lives – so much so, that we won’t even realise we’re using it (much like we don’t realise it now with Alexa, Siri, Sat Nav, customer service chatbots, and so on). AI will just be another tool we use to get our jobs done, done well, and done fast and efficiently. AI will allow everyone to do more with less: Companies will be able to continually improve their offerings and service without having to invest in new infrastructure, and every interaction with a business will become quicker and easier for customers.

Most people have already seen how AI enables us to do more with less in our personal lives, whether that is through generating art for their living room or just through regular interactions with smart appliances. Even hackers creating phishing emails are using AI to fix their broken English.

We are also benefitting from other uses of AI without being aware of them. Scientists are using AI technology to forecast earthquakes way before they happen, and AI algorithms and machine learning techniques are being used to predict consumer demand to help retailers optimise stock supply, minimising food waste. There are so many existing applications of AI that it can be hard to keep track of them, proving that we are already living in an AI-driven future.