How Artificial Intelligence is revolutionizing industry worldwide

Artificial Intelligence seems distant and alien to our lives. An accomplice of science fiction, for many people this technology refers to highly intelligent robots that will replace human beings in any task or even subjugate the human race.

Nothing could be further from reality. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has come to revolutionize our lives and is already being used in many fields with effects that can already be felt in our daily lives. And we are only at the beginning of this revolution.

According to the report "Artificial Intelligence Market 2020-2027", published by Fortune Business Insights, AI is playing an increasingly important role in various sectors and is expected to expects the global market for this technology to reach 267 billion dollars by 2027with a contribution to the world economy of 15.7 trillion dollars by 2030.

The current scenario, however, is very varied: some companies are still in their infancy when it comes to implementing this technology, while others have already taken the first steps, and still others are already reaping the rewards.

Brazilians see advantages in AI

Artificial Intelligence is currently being used for different purposes: boosting productivity, improving the customer experience, speeding up decision-making, generating new profit opportunities and improving efficiency.

Technology is well regarded by Brazilians. An Ipsos for the World Economic Forum, published in January, reveals that 57% of respondents believe that services and products based on Artificial Intelligence bring more advantages than disadvantages; while 51% of respondents believe that, in the last five years, their lives have been profoundly impacted in a positive way by products and services that use AI.

Brazilians are also very confident about the future of this technology. The same survey shows that 61% of those interviewed say that AI will bring about profound changes in the next five years, while 65% believe that the use of Artificial Intelligence makes everyday life easier.

How the pandemic accelerated AI

What was already on the rise has been given a further boost by the pandemic. The report Keys to Successful Innovation through Artificial Intelligence, published by the Harvard Business Review, states that the Covid-19 epidemic has forced companies in all sectors to revamp their operations and invest in technology.

Many companies had to adapt in a hurry, creating new systems or having to quickly scale up projects that, for some reason, were stalled or delayed.

Harris survey shows that 55% of companies accelerated their AI implementation strategy in 2020 because of Covid-19. A survey by NewVantage Partners found that nine out of ten leading companies in their sectors invest in Artificial Intelligence, although only 15% of them actually use it.

This difference is caused in part because many companies don't fully understand the potential of this technology or don't have clear strategies for achieving the objectives.

According to Harvard Business School professors Marco Iansiti and Karim Lakhani, "AI-driven processes can be scaled much faster than traditional ones" and "can be connected with other digital businesses and create powerful opportunities for learning and improvement.

Implementing AI, however, can be a tortuous and even difficult path for companies. According to the two experts, the first step is to identify a specific problem and then devise a strategy to solve it. Next, you need to democratize access to data so that everyone working on these projects can benefit from its use.