Why can AI be a GameChanger?

Artificial intelligence is one of the key technologies of this century, and its use in everyday life will have disruptive consequences for people and their environment. There are numerous and intense discussions about this very question, to what extent the concrete application of AI will change the circumstances of future action and what potential it really holds. It is already impossible to imagine our everyday lives without AI, and people are supported by chatbots when an order is complained about or can travel efficiently thanks to navigation systems that can calculate a new route in the event of a traffic jam. But what specifically constitutes our focus on technology? Artificial intelligence is able to take on large amounts of data and draw specific conclusions through appropriate algorithms, constantly evolving into a learning problem solver. The areas of application are diverse and so are the potentials around the technology, if you think of autonomous driving or medical diagnosis, where artificial intelligence can provide enormous support. But what exactly makes artificial intelligence a gamechanger and why hasn’t traditional programming been enough to provide custom-fit solutions for businesses? This blog is all about the importance of Artificial Intelligence for businesses and its groundbreaking development.

AI or traditional software?

In order to understand the potential offered by the use of artificial intelligence, it is first necessary to explain the difference to classic software. Here, the rules or algorithms are programmed and clearly defined by the developer. The finished software applies these rules to input data and outputs corresponding answers. The decisive difference between this approach and artificial intelligence is machine learning, which can develop its own rules and correlations through pattern recognition. This means that more complex rule systems can emerge independently, which can also be applied to other data sets. So, in a simplified example, the technology can learn what cats look like when fed an appropriate amount of data. The rule system is then able to distinguish cats from other animals.

Artificial intelligence in business

The digital transformation and the rapid development of artificial intelligence offer companies in particular a wide range of value creation potential and possible applications, and the global market for AI-based services, software and hardware will grow by up to 25 percent by 2025, according to a study by McKinsey. The reason for this process is the strong growth in cloud infrastructure and the computing power and networking that this makes possible. Providers in the course of this are not only the large corporations, but also increasingly small companies and start-ups that develop services and tools for operational processes in companies. Large companies in particular are investing large budgets in their various AI projects and are advancing their research. The decisive factor for German companies is also how quickly artificial intelligence can be integrated into operational processes in order to remain competitive in the long term. At the national level, too, various stakeholders are grappling with the technology and planning its safe and efficient use.

What is certain, however, is that these AI-based systems will fundamentally change the world of work. A central question surrounding the use of artificial intelligence is the fear of redundant jobs. It is not certain, however, whether this will be the case at all, and numerous experts tend to assume the opposite and see opportunities to generate new jobs and fields of work. One perspective on the development is the shift from standardized and repetitive tasks, which will be handled by AI in the future. Humans, on the other hand, can be increasingly deployed in strategic and creative task areas. The result is not so much a demarcation of areas of expertise as a collaboration between humans and machines that can work highly efficiently by exploiting value creation potential.

Negative aspects of artificial intelligence

Despite the groundbreaking development, AI systems also face some risks and disadvantages. Due to the high-tech and data-driven structure, a high level of security and transparency must be guaranteed for companies. Cybersecurity must be a very high priority for companies to prevent attacks from third parties. Furthermore, the question arises to what extent companies are prepared to integrate artificial intelligence into their processes. As already mentioned in the first section, artificial intelligence is changing the working world as we know it, and corporate management and models as well as customer orientation must change. This change must be driven by both management positions and employees, who must be more highly qualified and autonomous in order to be able to support the changes. In concrete terms, this means overturning outdated structures and developing new concepts, which requires a high level of preparation and a well-developed infrastructure. 

What are the fields of action for German companies?

The “State of AI in the Enterprise Survey – 3rd Edition” by Deloitte presented the status quo of AI projects in 2700 companies, and Germany is also represented with 200 use cases. From a national perspective, the companies here also rate artificial intelligence as critical to success, but there are various areas for action in order to remain on a par with international competitors in the long term. One of these is that the implementation of concrete AI projects must become more of a focus, and German companies are currently still too involved in pilot projects. In addition, significantly more skills need to be developed internally with regard to the technological affinity of employees. At a time when there is a shortage of skilled workers, the relevant know-how must also be integrated into companies. A final significant field of action, concerning AI, is the efficient use of resources from external providers. The study shows that some companies are already integrating targeted partners into their projects and, taking into account the shortage of skilled workers just mentioned, it makes sense to cooperate with specialized companies. In order to always find the appropriate AI solution provider, “What can AI do for me?” is developing an application that simplifies this process.

What offers “What can AI do for me?” 

As part of a joint research project, the Media University, thingsTHINKING GmbH and KENBUN IT AG are working together on a web application. This will show companies with still unspecific AI projects the potential of suitable AI use cases and suggest suitable solution providers. While companies – especially from medium-sized businesses – will be relieved of the hurdle of starting to implement AI, our web application will be a free opportunity for solution providers to win potential new customers. Technically, the planned web application is based on the AI semantha® of the software company thingsTHINKING from Karlsruhe. The semantic platform is able to analyze and compare texts at the meaning level without individual training. This makes it easy to match a user’s form input on WhatCanAiDoForMe.com with the use cases of AI service providers and users.

Sources:

A joint project of the following research partners

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