COLUMBIA, MARYLAND - Practitioners in the tech space love to talk about the many benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) and about its flip side: its risks and biases. People also talk about how AI is the future of business, even though that statement is far too vague: almost any new technology could be inserted into such a sentence, such as ‘The metaverse is the future of business,’ ‘4D printing is the future of business,’ or even something as seemingly far-fetched as ‘Flying cars are the future of business.’ 

Some grandiose statements about AI even include the following: AI will end world hunger, AI will solve climate change, and AI will cure cancer. This is despite the fact that essentially the same statements have been made with ‘big data,’ ‘blockchain,’ and “quantum computing” inserted in place of AI.

A better approach would be to avoid such vague over-hyped generalities and focus instead on substantial and specific ideas, benefits, ramifications, productivity enhancements, and business transformations. This article will seek to do exactly that, and hopefully with some substance to it all.

Substantial AI realities

Firstly, one should review some substantial AI realities. It is often said that AI consumes data, though it would be more vividly accurate to say that AI devours data - all modes of data (real-time, static, digital, non-digital), plus all types and sources of data (customer records, sensor data, time series, databases, images, videos, written text, voice, network logs, web search histories, location data, social media posts, business and industry reports, financial data, machine data, asset performance data, wearable device data, health records, inventory and supply chain tracking logs, and more). 

AI’s habit of intense data consumption produces a rich and comprehensive array of real benefits and