What do we know about artificial intelligence? Little, and still too little

The fact that we do not understand AI does not yet mean that the catastrophic vision of the Terminator could become reality.

The term "artificial intelligence" is more than half a century old. It was first used by the American computer scientist John McCarthy in 1956. Since then, work on AI has accelerated, and the results of these efforts are being used in e-marketing, manufacturing, and in developing innovative applications.
In August, the American IT company Entrata conducted a survey on what ordinary people know about artificial intelligence. Although many respondents know the broad definition of the term, most do not grasp its real impact on our reality. The result? A lack of understanding leads to misperceptions, and such conditions foster the creation of false information that has more in common with entertainment cinema, such as The Terminator, than with a realistic assessment of the situation.

AI, or the digital surge in the IT industry

According to a recently updated report by IDC (International Data Corporation), spending on AI will reach nearly USD 40 billion this year. And within just 4 years it will grow 2.5 times to USD 100 billion. According to specialists from the analytics firm, this popularity is driven by the universality and effectiveness of intelligent algorithms. AI has become a catalyst for solutions at the intersection of the IT and business worlds.
“The real testing ground for AI was online advertising. Thanks to Big Data and programmatic media buying, online advertising has completely changed its face. AI algorithms began to be used to create personalized campaigns that achieve much better effectiveness than broad-reach activities. Today, for the first time in history, a brand can conduct a dialogue with its audience, except that the intermediary in the communication is an algorithm.” explains Piotr Prajsnar, CEO of Cloud Technologies, a company specializing in Big Data analytics.

Artificial intelligence works like dominoes, where an action immediately triggers a reaction - for the automation of certain processes to occur, e.g. ad buying in the programmatic model, machine learning algorithms must constantly improve their operation in order to become better and better. However, they will not achieve this goal as long as they do not receive the right amount of data - about user behavior, habits, and points of contact with the system. These can come from sources created by the company itself, or they can be supplemented from external databases.
Using machine learning and the analysis of large data sets, AI is able to provide companies with deep insight into their customers. Business will not only be able to hyper-personalize interactions, but is also able to predict future customer behavior based on the information collected.
Only those days we do not yet know are important...

Today, artificial intelligence is no longer an avant-garde concept - it is nothing less than the technological reality of the 21st century to which companies must become accustomed. A new Gartner survey revealed that the number of organizations implementing AI has increased over the past four years by 270% and threefold over the past year. It is an increasingly common solution; by turning to algorithms, business is seeking real support. Pinpointing critical points on the customer's purchasing path, automating production processes, or reducing operational risk and counteracting crises are the basic applications of AI.

“Thanks to artificial intelligence, companies can optimize their marketing budget and increase the return on investment in online advertising, for example by placing ads only with the right users. One of the key benefits of using AI in the advertising industry today is the ability to analyze even thousands of unstructured pieces of information and, on that basis, deliver precise conclusions and recommendations,” comments Piotr Prajsnar of Cloud Technologies.

Artificial intelligence has, however, fallen victim to its own popularity. Research conducted by Entrata shows that among those who claimed to be experts in understanding artificial intelligence, 20% not only confused the definition, but much more often defined the concept incorrectly than other groups that declared they knew little about it or had only just heard of it. As the authors of the report emphasize, more than 38% of respondents either had just heard of artificial intelligence or have no idea what it is.
Despite this lack of understanding, more than half (52%) of people say they feel comfortable interacting with AI, which is important because more than 40% of people use some form of AI every day, whether it is Gmail, Siri or Alexa, Netflix, but also many others.

Artificial intelligence means neither artificial nor intelligence

While the threats arising from the development of AI are increasingly becoming the subject of public debate, it is worth noting that in its current form it is limited by algorithms, i.e. rules and mathematical formulas developed by humans, and by the data that is fed into the system. For now, this technology is limited to the role of a mediator, devoid of the ability to perform truly independent actions. This is so-called narrow AI. It creates the machine intelligence that surrounds us and timidly supports us in everyday activities.

“Certain forms of artificial intelligence accompany us every day. Alexa, Siri, or Google Assistant via mobile devices are with us both at home and at work. As these technologies develop in commercial form, their importance in work and business will grow. We can already see that technology companies are designing their assistants for the specific requirements of markets. Amazon's voice assistant – Alexa – has already received its business version.” comments Stanisław Bochnak, business strategist at VMware Polska. - “In many enterprises, intelligent applications are also used that analyze data for employees in real time.” – he adds.

In recent weeks, VMware announced that its digital workspace platform will be supported by a virtual concierge based on machine learning algorithms. In his view, it will support employees in their daily tasks. At the same time, VMware experts are cooling emotions - AI is not an independent, omnipotent entity.

“According to research conducted by VMware, 45 percent of consumers believe that artificial intelligence is more a 'thing' than a set of intelligent algorithms that improve the operation of IT systems or services. Business optimization, however, does not sound as exciting as a super-intelligent robot. The thing is that the truth about the revolution awaiting enterprises lies precisely in this optimization. They are increasingly using cloud computing, big data analytics, and modern IT infrastructure. And all of this must be managed. That is when artificial intelligence and machine learning come to the rescue,” explains Joe Baguley, vice president of technology at VMware.

AI is the main attribute of industry in the race for the 4.0 label

According to IDC experts, the industrial sector will most likely derive the most benefit from AI technologies. In four years, the value of artificial intelligence-based technology solutions for industry will reach USD 4.9 billion. That is more than a sevenfold increase compared with 2018. Klaus Schwab, founder and chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), admitted in an interview that AI is one of the most important attributes of modern industry and a fundamental element of the Industry 4.0 concept, and that its implementation will cause major changes. Future tense, because the industrial world uses AI sparingly. As we read in the Factories of the Future report, fewer than one in ten (8%) manufacturers use artificial intelligence-based technology in their plant.

That is one side of the coin; the other is more optimistic. Because as early as 2020, in every second (50%) manufacturing enterprise, solutions based on artificial intelligence will be in operation, declare the managers taking part in the survey. Is that possible? It seems so, as confirmed by Vanson Bourne data. According to research by this independent British research agency, as many as 93% of global IT leaders perceive artificial intelligence as a key technology for the future of their companies.

Why can we expect such a significant increase in AI implementations in a short time? According to Lucjan Giza, development director at the Silesian company BPSC, there are several reasons.

- “The development of artificial intelligence in industry is driven by the Industry 4.0 concept. AI helps, among other things, in analyzing huge amounts of data in real time, and this improves the accuracy of forecasts and control in operational processes, especially those used to improve production efficiency.” says the expert from BPSC, and adds - Reducing errors in the operation of the production line is another benefit. It translates not only into speed and accuracy, but also results in a significant reduction in downtime and failures.” - Giza concludes.
This is only the beginning, and artificial intelligence itself will change not only the industrial ecosystem, but also transport with its autonomous cars, disaster response with intelligent weather forecasting, as well as medicine, retail, and finance.

Programmers are watching the backs of fleeing artificial intelligence. Fortunately, this does not mean that digital life created by humans has escaped from the laboratory, and that terrified scientists must give chase. Not yet. However, it is striking that it increasingly happens that we do not understand the conclusions that algorithms draw based on the data entered, but it is only a matter of time before that changes. One thing is certain - AI will pay off. Experts around the world emphasize this. Oxford Insights forecasts that it could be as much as USD 15 trillion generated by intelligent algorithms.