By Brennan White

It is the obvious which is so difficult to see most of the time. People say Its as plain as the nose on your face. But how much of the nose on your face can you see, unless someone holds a mirror up to you? -Isaac Asimov, fromI, Robot

Some great minds, includingElon Musk, are clearly worried about Artificial Intelligence (AI). And with the recent innovationslikeGoogles self-driving car, the Hong Kong metro automating its own maintenance, and computers that are able to read human emotion, this fear is understandable.

Technology is finally catching up to science fiction but business leaders who wait until humanoid robots are walking around to begin implementing AI in their businesswill have missed the boat and let their competitors eat their lunch. With so many new developments in AI, the conscientious business leader should be thinking about how AI will impact their business today.

AIIs Already Here

Sci-fi has us looking for the wrong signs for the arrival of AI (e.g. C-3POs, Marvins, Hals). Much more immediate (and some may argue more impressive) achievements are largely left out of these stories. Having a computer pass the Turing test would certainly be a massive event. But ishavinga computer emulating humans the sign we should be waiting for?

Einstein supposedly said, If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. Are webeing a bit shortsighted by focusing on how quickly computers can become like us when computers are already far better at doing many things?

In Hong Kong and Mountain View, there is a much more important message: AIis already here. Its arriving almost invisibly. Its happening in many, if not most, industries. From the drones that you fly to the cars that will soon be driving you, companies are putting software to work doing what software does best: intelligently automating large data sets to make timely decisions more accurately and reliably than we ever could. They areremoving work from human minds and hands.

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Artificial Intelligence Is Already Here, But Is Your Business Ready For It?