The News Should Prove No Surprise: Here’s How Most Major Industries Are Using AI
Artificial intelligence (AI), particularly AI chatbots ChatGPT and Google Bard, have commanded attention this year, and rightfully so. AI and machine learning (ML)—the process by which systems learn from experience and automatically adjust to improve outcomes—are changing the ways numerous industries operate. Here are several examples illustrating how most major vertical markets are incorporating AI and ML within their processes and workflows to speed production, improve performance and reduce costs, among other benefits.
Agriculture
Farms are employing AI to better monitor and manage crop health, disease and irrigation. Farmers are also using AI technologies to predict weather events and improve planting and harvest schedules more accurately. Autonomous tractors are assisting with pruning and harvests, a method that requires significant collaboration between technology providers and farmers, which aids simplifying a laborious process and helps improve margins.
Banking
Banks are incorporating AI within a number of important processes. From implementing AI-powered algorithms that assist detecting and preventing fraud to using AI-powered chatbots that personalize and assist answering customer questions, the industry is embracing the innovative technology. Banks are also employing AI to assist determining creditworthiness when assessing loan eligibility, yet another step lenders are taking to further personalize banking interactions with customers via AI. In fact, some 75 percent of banks holding more than $100 billion in assets say they are in the process of implementing AI solutions.
Construction
A sector many associate with old school thinking and processes, many builders are proving prescient and adopting AI technologies. AI-empowered autonomous machines can finish drywall and paint interiors, among other tasks, subsequently reducing costs. These robots also offer opportunities to reduce injuries by fulfilling other potentially dangerous responsibilities, including drilling, excavating, welding and brick laying. Outside physical tasks, AI tools are also assisting construction in other ways, such as by applying ML strategies to assist and enhance building designs and models, tracking tools and equipment and generating more efficient production schedules.
Education
By tailoring instructional methods using AI, teachers can personalize lessons to better assist individual students in learning various subjects. The technology can also automate laborious tasks—detecting plagiarism and preparing lesson plans among them—that often rob teachers of valuable time, enabling them to invest more effort in higher quality tasks, such as answering individual questions or providing tailored tutoring and instruction. AI also enables adjusting instruction to better meet each student’s unique needs. Simultaneously, students can adopt AI technologies, including generative chatbots, to learn more about subjects. While valid concerns exist that students could just employ AI solutions to perform their work for them, properly applied, AI technologies could become a critical new research and analysis tool.
Entertainment
Love it or hate it, Hollywood is tapping AI for everything from helping determine which productions to green light to assisting screenwriting. Whether a new AI-created production becomes the next Ted Lasso remains to be seen, but companies such as Netflix and Hulu are already using AI-powered algorithms to study customer habits and provide more effective individualized viewing recommendations.
Fashion
Augmented reality assists designers and retailers in helping customers better envision how their products will look and fit. As popularized by Warby Parker, virtual try-ons assist the sales process by incorporating body and face scanning technologies. Internally, fashion firms are also adopting AI technologies to crunch vast amounts of data, improve analytics and better forecast fashion trends and demand.
Financial Services
Whether performing risk analysis to determine potential exposure, assist automated equity and high-frequency trading or manage financial portfolios, the financial services industry is entrusting AI technologies to perform vital tasks. Financial services firms are also employing AI and ML to automate manual and repetitive tasks, perform “big data” analyses and more accurately forecast (including by better understanding market data, current news and historical results) future performance, an obviously critical factor in investing. In a 2023 NVIDIA report, some 46 percent of financial services respondents confirmed AI has improved customer experiences, while 35 percent indicate the technology has created operation efficiencies. Other benefits include reduced costs (20 percent) and new competitive capabilities (17 percent).
Healthcare
The healthcare industry is no stranger to technology. From medical imaging machines and specialized diagnostic equipment to electronic medical records and lab software, the sector has continually adopted various technologies to improve both outcomes and operations. Now the sector is embracing AI to dictate physician notes, summarize audio conversations collected during patient visits, personalize treatment plans and improve the quality of research and care. While healthcare organizations are cautious in such efforts, they are also testing the technology to assist diagnoses, as AI and ML excel analyzing large amounts of medical information. Mayo Clinic, which employs AI solutions to assist diagnosing patient heart issues treatment, is but one example.
Information Technology
Known for its advancements and investment in and dependence upon new and emerging technologies, the information technology (IT) field began incorporating AI and ML technologies years ago. The technologies are improving cybersecurity defenses and responses, improving the quality of network traffic monitoring and routing and automating routing functions. AI is also being used within IT, just as in other industries, to improve the quality and speed with which customer and user needs are acknowledged, serviced and resolved.
Insurance
One industry well positioned to take advantage of AI and ML advantages is insurance. The field is adopting the technologies to speed claims processing and more precisely assess risks to permit better pricing premiums. Insurance companies are also using AI to assist customers in completing and submitting claims, providing updates once cases are filed and speeding communications.
Logistics
Logistics is another industry in which AI and ML are proving to have outsized impact. From automation of common picking, sorting and packing operations within warehouses to autonomous robots moving inventory within and between distribution centers, the industry is implementing AI innovations in powerful and compelling ways. Amazon uses AI-enabled robots within warehouses, ports are exploring employing the technology to eliminate shipping container congestion and UPS and FedEx are among those testing augmented reality to improve learning and training.
Manufacturing
Manufacturers are tapping AI and ML solutions to improve product quality, minimize unplanned production disruptions and improve maintenance. In addition to detecting defects and automating production and assembly via autonomous robots, manufacturers are using AI to monitor and analyze equipment and production systems to better predict maintenance needs. The industry is also reducing waste and improving yield by leveraging AI and ML to better manage materials and resources as part of the production and manufacturing processes.
Media
Although the subject of some controversy, outlets are using AI technologies to author and publish content. Media organizations are also employing AI to crunch oceans of social media and other online content to help determine prevailing public sentiment associated with various events and trends. The industry is also employing AI to generate captions and subtitles, identify and eliminate fake news and patrol traditional and digital media to surface inaccurate and problematic content. Improving the quality of personalized and targeted content advertising is yet another example of the many ways media firms are incorporating AI within workflows to improve operations and lower costs.
Real Estate
Realtors are incorporating AI technologies in multiple ways to assist their trade. The industry is adopting AI-powered algorithms to analyze historical pricing and current market trends, as well as property-specific elements, to better forecast property values and determine pricing. The sector is also using augmented reality to provide potential buyers with virtual walkthroughs to provide more expedient and immersive tours. Another way the real estate industry is embracing AI is by using the technology to assist prospective property buyers in better identifying potential properties that best meet buyers’ unique needs.
Retail
Shoppers—whether buying books, clothes, groceries, specialty products or other goods—are already receiving personalized purchase recommendations thanks to AI-powered systems that review individual customer purchase histories, sales trends and browsing patterns. Amazon, Macy’s and Under Armour are among the businesses using AI to generate customized recommendations for individual customers. Retailers are also employing AI solutions to analyze a variety of market factors and assist improving consumer demand predictions to enable more accurate inventory management.
Telecommunications
Similar to the IT sector, telecommunications companies began using AI and ML technologies within their operations years ago. In the case of telecom firms, the technologies can assist balancing network loads and optimizing network traffic. Telecom companies are also using AI to scour customer records and patterns and better predict potential retention vulnerabilities to enable proactive sales activities. Other ways the telecom industry is using AI are to enhance and accelerate customer service inquiries and resolutions.
Utilities
Another industry sometimes associated with antiquated infrastructure and outdated systems, fairly or not, many electric, gas and water utilities are striving to innovate. Some energy utilities are using AI- and ML-enabled algorithms to monitor power grid activities, weather events and demand predictions to better forecast pricing and optimize power delivery, while others are using similar algorithms to predict energy demand and corresponding pricing futures. Still other utilities are incorporating AI solutions to detect performance anomalies, monitor distribution networks and improve predictive maintenance modeling.
Need Help Understanding Or Adopting AI Within Your Business?
If you have concerns regarding competitors adopting AI and ML solutions, or if your organizations needs assistance determining appropriate ways to select and implement AI and ML, drop us a line. Call 502-897-7577 or email [email protected] for assistance understanding and employing these new innovative technologies.
