Daily Archives: August 8, 2017

Elon Musk famously equated Artifical Intelligence with summoning the demon and sounds the alarm that AI is advancing faster than anyone realizes, posing an existential threat to humanity. Stephen Hawking has warned that AI could take off and leave the human race, limited by evolutions slow pace, in the dust. Bill Gates counts himself in the camp concerned about super intelligence. And, although Mark Zuckerburg is dismissive about AIs potential threat, Facebook recently shut down an AI engine after reportedly discovering that it had created a new language humans cant understand.

Concerns about AI are entirely logical if all that exists is physical matter. If so, itd be inevitable that AI -- designed by our intelligence but built on a better platform than biochemistry -- would exceed human capabilities that arise by chance.

In fact, in a purely physical world, fully-realized AI should be recognized as the appropriate outcome of natural selection; we humans should benefit from it while we can. After all, sooner or later, humanity will cease to exist, whether from the sun running out or something more mundane including AI-driven extinction. Until then, wouldnt it be better to maximize human flourishing with the help of AI rather than forgoing its benefits in hopes of extending humanitys end date?

As possible as all this might seem, in actuality, what we know about the human mind strongly suggests that full AI will not happen. Physical matter alone is not capable of producing whole, subjective experiences, such as watching a sunset while listening to sea gulls, and the mechanisms proposed to address the known shortfalls of matter vs. mind, such as emergent properties, are inadequate and falsifiable. Therefore, it is highly probable that we have immaterial minds.

Deep down, we all know were more than biological robots. Thats why almost everyone rebels against materialisms implications. We dont act as though we believe everything is ultimately meaningless.

Granted, forms of AI are already achieving impressive results. These use brute force, huge and fast memory, rules-based automation, and layers of pattern matching to perform their extraordinary feats. But this processing is not aware, perceiving, feeling, cognition. The processing doesnt go beyond its intended activities even if the outcomes are unpredictable. Technology based on this level of AI will often be quite remarkable and definitely must be managed well to avoid dangerous repercussions. However, in and of itself, this AI cannot lead to a true replication of the human mind.

Full AI that is, artificial intelligence capable of matching and perhaps exceeding the human mind -- cannot be achieved unless we discover, via material means, the basis for the existence of immaterial minds, and then learn how to confer that on machines. In philosophy the underlying issue is known as the qualia problem. Our awareness of external objects and colors; our self-consciousness; our conceptual understanding of time; our experiences of transcendence whether simple awe in front of beauty or mathematical truth; or our mystical states, all clearly point to something that is qualitatively different from the material world. Anyone with a decent understanding of physics, computer science and the human mind ought to be able to know this, especially those most concerned about AIs possibilities.

That those who fear AI dont see its limitations indicates that even the best minds fall victim to their biases. We should be cautious about believing that exceptional achievements in some areas translate to exceptional understanding in others. For too many including some in the media -- the mantra, question everything, applies only within certain boundaries. They never question methodological naturalism -- the belief that there is nothing that exists outside the material world -- which blinds them to other possibilities. Even with what seems like more open-minded thinking, some people seem to suffer from a lack of imagination or will. For example, Peter Thiel believes that the human mind and computers are deeply different yet doesnt acknowledge that implies that the mind comprises more than physical matter. Thomas Nagle believes that consciousness could not have arisen via materialistic evolution yet explicitly limits the implications of that because he doesnt want God to exist.

Realizing that we have immaterial minds, i.e. genuine souls, is far more important than just speculating on AIs future. Without immaterial minds, there is no sustainable basis for believing in human exceptionalism. When human life is viewed only through a materialistic lens, it gets valued based on utility. No wonder the young nones young Americans who dont identify with a religion think their lives are meaningless and some begin to despair. It is time to understand that evolution is not a strictly material process but one in which the immaterial mind plays a major role in human, and probably all sentient creatures, adaption and selection.

Deep down, we all know were more than biological robots. Thats why almost everyone rebels against materialisms implications. We dont act as though we believe everything is ultimately meaningless.

Were spiritual creatures, here by intent, living in a world where the supernatural is the norm; each and every moment of our lives is our souls in action. Immaterial ideas shape the material world and give it true meaning, not the other way around.

In the end, the greatest threat that humans face is a failure to recognize what we really are.

If were lucky, what people learn in the pursuit of full AI will lead us to the re-discovery of the human soul, where it comes from, and the important understanding that goes along with that.

Bruce Buff is a management consultant and the author of the scientific-spiritual thriller "The Soul of the Matter" (Howard Books, September 13, 2016).

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Artificial Intelligence will lead to the human soul, not ...

Just when you thought you were getting to know Microsoft (MSFT) it goes and changes personalities.

Actually, the new-and-improved Microsoft has been making itself known for quite some time with a minimal amount of fanfare - it only became officially official last week. In that the shift is apt to make in an increasingly big difference in the company's results though, fans and followers of the company would be wise to take a closer look at what Microsoft has become.

And what is this new focal point for CEO Satya Nadella? Take it with a grain of salt, because corporate slogans are as much of a sales pitch as they are an ambition anymore. But, per the company's most recent annual filing with the SEC, Microsoft is now an "AI (artificial intelligence) first" outfit. Previous annual reports had suggested its focal point was mobile... a mission that ended with mixed results. While Microsoft has a strong presence in the mobility market in the sense that many of its cloud services are accessible via mobile devices, Microsoft's smartphone dreams turned into nightmares.

It does beg the question though - what exactly does an AI-focused Microsoft look like when artificial intelligence was never a priority before?

They were touted by the company, though in light of the fact that it's the big new hot button, the AI acquisitions Microsoft has made to date weren't touted enough (and certainly not framed within the context of its new mission).

As a quick recap, the more prescient artificial intelligence deals Nadella has made:

1. SwiftKey

Back in early 2016, Microsoft ponied up a reported $250 million to get its hands on a technology that predicts what word you're typing into your smartphone or tablet before you have to tap all the letters out. Some find it annoying because the word it guesses isn't always the one you want... a problem solved just by continuing to type. Others love the idea of not being forced to finish typing a word.

At first blush it seems superfluous, and truth be told, it is. It's not quite as meaningless as some have made it out to be though, in that users have largely come to expect such a feature from most of their electronics.

2. Genee

Just a few months after acquiring SwiftKey last year, it bought chatbot specialist Genee, primarily to make its office productivity programs more powerful an easy to use. Users can simply speak into their computer to manipulate apps like Office 365. Its claim to fame is the ability to schedule meetings on a calendar just by understanding the context of an e-mail.

The tool in itself isn't the proverbial "killer app." In fact, Microsoft shut down Genee shortly after it bought it. It just didn't shut it down after ripping out the most marketable pieces of the platform and adding them to its bigger chatbot machine.

Microsoft has struggled with AI chat in the past - like Tay, which quickly learned to be racist - but it's getting very, very good at conversational instructions. But the establishment of a 100-member department aimed solely improving artificial intelligence strongly suggests the company is going to keep working on its chat technologies until it gets it right.

3. Maluuba

It's arguably the most game-changing artificial intelligence acquisition Microsoft has made to date, even though it's the furthest away from being useful.

Maluuba was the Canadian artificial intelligence outfit Microsoft bought in January of this year. It was billed as a general AI company, which could mean a lot of different things. For Maluuba though, that meant building systems that could read (and comprehend) words, understand dialog, and perform common-sense reasoning.

A completely impractical but amazingly impressive use of that technology: Maluuba's technology was the platform that allowed a computer to beat the notoriously difficult Ms. Pac Man video game for the Atari 2600. Even more interesting is how it happened. Microsoft essentially arranged for a committee of different digital thought patterns with different priorities. That is, one AI's priority was to score as many points as possible. Another AI's priority was to eat the game's ghosts when they were edible. Yet another AI's purpose was avoiding those ghosts. All of the different 'committee' members negotiated each move Ms. Pac Man made at any given time, based on the risk or reward of a particular (and ever-changing) scenario in the game.

The end result: The artificial intelligence achieved the best-ever known score for the game.

It remains to be seen how that premise will be applied in the future, but it's got a lot of potential. It's one of the few artificial intelligence platforms that had to reason its way through a problem created by an outside, third-party source rather than one that was built from the ground up to perform a very specific, limited function.

Getting a bead on the nascent artificial market is tough. There's no shortage of outlooks. There's just a shortage of history and understanding about what artificial intelligence really is and how it can be practically commercialized.

To the extent AI's potential can be quantified though, PricewaterhouseCoopers thinks it will create an additional $16 trillion worth of commerce over the course of the coming ten years... that's above and beyond what would have been created without it.

In other words, that's not the likely market size for artificial intelligence software, hardware and services - that figure will be smaller. Tractica thinks the actual amount of spending on AI services and hardware will be on the order of $16 billion by 2025... a number that seems reasonable and rational, though also somehow seems small relative to the value artificial intelligence will have to enterprises. In fact, others think (when factoring in the underlying software and related services that will mature with AI) the artificial intelligence market will be worth $59 billion by 2025.

Whatever's in the cards, it's a worthy market to address, and Microsoft is surprisingly almost as well equipped to run the race as well as its peers and rivals can. Though meaningful revenue is still a few years off, the new Microsoft mantra is one that matters, in that it's a viable growth engine for the company.

In other words, take Microsoft's AI ambitions as seriously as you should have taken its cloud-computing ambitions a couple of years ago.

Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

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Microsoft's New Artificial Intelligence Mission Is Nothing To Dismiss - Seeking Alpha

Artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly coming into its own in terms of use by the legal industry. We are on the cusp of a revolution in the legal profession led by the adoption of AI throughout the legal industry, but in particular by in-house lawyers. Much like how email changed the way we do business every day, AI will become ubiquitous an indispensable assistant to practically every lawyer. But what is the future of AI in the legal industry? A bigger question is whether AI will actually replace lawyers as seems to be implicated above (a scary thought if you are new to the profession vs. an old-timer like me). And if so, are there ethical or moral dilemmas that should be considered regarding AI and the legal industry? When considering the future of AI in the industry, a few things are for sure. First, those who do not adopt and embrace the change will get left behind in some manner and second, those who do embrace AI will ultimately find themselves freed up to do the two things there always seems to be too little time for: thinking and advising. Welcome to the second of a four-part series on AI; this article discusses whether lawyers should be concerned about whether AI will replace lawyers.

Robot Lawyer Army?

In the first installment of this series, I wrote about what AI is, how it works, and its general impact on the legal industry and legal technology. In this article, I will tackle the question of whether AI will replace lawyers.

I am sorry to disappoint anyone who had visions of unleashing a horde of mechanical robot lawyers to lay waste to their enemies via a mindless rampage of bone-chilling logic and robo-litigation. That isnt happening, but it does paint a pretty cool picture of the robot lawyer army Ive always wanted. Instead, what most likely to happen are three things.

1) Some legal jobs will be eliminated, e.g., those which involve the sole task of searching documents or other databases for information and coding that information are most at risk.

2) Jobs will be created, including managing and developing AI (legal engineers), writing algorithms for AI, and reviewing AI-assisted work product (because lawyers can never concede the final say or the provision of legal advice to AI).

3) Most lawyers will be freed from the mundane task of data gathering for the value-added task of analyzing results, thinking, and advising their clients. These are roles that will always require the human touch. AI will just be a tool to help lawyers do all of this better, faster and more cost effectively.

For more about the future of AI for in-house counsel, see the full version of this article. Or visit the larger Legal Department 2025 Resource Center from Thomson Reuters.

Sterling Miller spent over 20 years as in-house counsel, including being general counsel for Sabre Corporation and Travelocity. He currently serves as Senior Counsel for Hilgers Graben PLLC focusing on litigation, contracts, data privacy, compliance, and consulting with in-house legal departments. He is CIPP/US certified in data privacy.

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Artificial Intelligence And Its Impact On Legal Technology (Part II ... - Above the Law

It might be considered a platitude, but people are always looking for new ways to break away from the monotonous beat of everyday normalcy either temporarily or permanently. According to a 2013 report on drug abuse by the United States government, 9.4 percent (around 24.6 million people) of individuals age 12 or old noted that they had recreationally used a drug within the past month. This tendency to seek life-changing experiences is true whether it concerns things like the countercultural movements of the 1970s which infamously involved controversial music and use of illicit drugs or the technological experiences today.

Most people are fascinated with those experiences that allow them to escape crushing boredom and constancy of regular life. Thats why the prospect of virtual realities and the possibilities of automation afforded by artificial intelligence are so exciting. Here are some of the biggest changes related to these two fields that are quickly arriving with the technological advents of modern society.

In order to understand the importance of the changes that are currently taking place in the field of AI, a brief description of historical approaches to the problem of replicating intelligence is helpful. Lets illustrate these approaches by taking a look at how chess engines function. With regard to chess engines, the goal is clearly defined and the problem is how can we code a machine to make accurate decisions that will lead to a winning outcome despite the difficulty of running large sequence searches through possible move sequences.

In the past, engineers solved this issue through cruder methods that involved the use of decision trees and using certain mathematical methods to guide the chess engines choice and calculation of the best possible move sequences. The issue with this method and the challenge that impacts most AI development efforts is that there needs to be significant amounts of training material in order for the engine to develop sufficient resolution and accuracy in making its choices.

Another limitation that is implicit in these older methods in artificial intelligence is that the methods themselves are static there is no way for the methods to refine themselves without the help of human ingenuity. The concept of machine learning is part of the set of revolutionary methods in artificial intelligence that is addressing this limitation and attempting to surpass it.

So, where does virtual reality come into all of this? Well, to start off virtual reality is similar to artificial intelligence in the sense that the field is still in its development stages. However, virtual reality is in an even earlier stage of nascency.

With the introduction of the popular Oculus Rift to the market, the general population has gotten its first preliminary taste and involvement in virtual reality. Yet, it is apparent the methods for providing a truly fulfilling virtual reality experience are still very rough around the edges with the introduction of hamstrung attempts like Samsungs Gear VR, which is really just you attaching your phones display to your face.

Further along the path of VR development lies the innovative company Guru which aims to advance the integration of VR for exhibits and museums. A key belief of Guru is that the right technology can enhance static works of art, , and Gurus augmented reality platform seeks to bring static art like paintings of historical figures and locations to life. You will feel as if you have been literally transported into a painting as Gurus digitization software intelligently animates the canvas.

What makes Guru possible derives from its blending of the concepts of artificial intelligence and virtual reality. Artificial intelligence is used by Guru to identify major themes in a painting and distinguish between buildings, people, and objects in order to bring them to life. Meanwhile, the design of the platform exists as virtual reality, allowing visitors to easily and intuitively access it.

Recently, the allure and wonder of the culture and history associated with famous artistic works has been lost to the massive leaps in technology. The expectations of the general population have gradually increased with the subtle introduction of these technologies which have become commonplace in the lives of many people. Mythology flourished during the time of the ancient Greeks because of the uncertainty associated with the unexplored areas of nature there could always be the stray nymph running around in a vast forest. But with the certainty provided with technology advancement, that feeling of wonder at the unknown has become rarer over time. Guru allows museums to take that same leap forward in order to connect with their visitors in a manner befitting these technological advents. It amazes and stuns visitors to see this blend of technology and human ingenuity in the palms of their hands. Guru restores to art what technology has replaced our imagination.

Moving away from immersive virtual reality experiences, there are arguably virtual realities that involve the inverse the projection of the virtual into the real. Gatebox and its virtual assistant that can engage you in conversation and control the settings of your home to an extent, based on your preferences, is a good demonstration of pioneering for this specific field. One day, the machine learning methods of artificial intelligence may even be incorporated into the conversational abilities of these assistants to give them an increasingly human-like presence.

Artificial intelligence has experienced a paradigm shift in recent times. This is because the older models of decision making that involve brute force methods or decision-making trees are transitioning over to models that involve the use of neural networks instead. Artificial intelligence methods that incorporate neural networks lead to more precise decision making because they have a number of variable sensors that all go into making a decision much like how a certain proportion of neurons fire in the human brain in response to a situation. This has allowed some programs to perform more complex tasks like the precise identification of human faces.

Another relevant aspect of this shift is how artificial intelligence derives from the application of machine learning. Before, games such chess with relatively fewer calculations required were easily conquered after some decades by chess engines. However, games involving more practice and intuition such as Go have long eluded mastery by machines until Googles DeepMind AI AlphaGo was introduced.

In a surprising turnaround, Googles AI was able to beat one of the leading Go champions, Lee Sedol 4-1 in an exhibition of five games, showing the proficiency and capabilities of these new machine learning methods. Interestingly, Google has also employed these machine learning methods to work with other applications such as in the regulation of its cooling systems to be more efficient.

This post is part of our contributor series. The views expressed are the author's own and not necessarily shared by TNW.

Read next: Apple iPhone 8 image leaks ahead of launch

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How virtual reality and artificial intelligence are changing life experiences - TNW

We all know that the world is being transformed by technology, but a leading artificial intelligence expert has made a series of predictions that put these changes into harsh perspective.

In his new book, It's Alive!: Artificial Intelligence from the Logic Piano to Killer Robots , Professor Toby Walsh paints a horrifying picture of life in 2050.

From autonomous vehicles to robot managers, humans will be at the mercy of artificially intelligent computers that will control almost every aspect of our lives.

As people's role in society diminishes, they will retreat further and further into virtual worlds, were they will be able to live out their darkest fantasies without fear of recrimination.

"By 2050, the year 2000 will look as quaintly old-fashioned as the horse drawn era of 1900 did to people in 1950," said Walsh, who is professor of artificial intelligence at the University of New South Wales in Australia.

Here are some of his most bone-chilling predictions about life in 2050:

Work is already underway to build cars that can drive themselves, but by 2050, Professor Walsh predicts that humans will be banned from driving althogether.

The vast majority of road accidents are caused by human error, he argues, so autonomous vehicles will make the roads inherently safer and less congested.

As self-driving cars become more ubiquitous, most people will lose their driving skills, and street parking will disappear.

Eventually, ships, planes and trains will also become autonomous, allowing goods to be transported all over the world without human intervention.

"If we can take the human out of the loop, we can make our roads much safer," said Professor Walsh.

As computers become more "intelligent", AI systems will increasingly manage how you work - from scheduling your tasks and approving holidays to monitoring and rewarding your performance.

They could even be put in charge of hiring and firing employees, looking at qualifications and skill sets to match people with jobs.

Professor Walsh points out that matching people with jobs is no more complicated than matching people with each other - something that we already rely on dating sites to do for us.

However, he admits there are some decisions that machines should not be allowed to make.

"We will have to learn when to say to computers: 'Sorry, I can't let you do that,'" he said.

If you're not answering to a computer, then you've probably been replaced by one.

Robots are already replacing humans in many factories and customer service roles, but by 2050, the same technology will have eliminated many middle-class "white collar" jobs.

The news will be written by artificially intelligent computers and presented by avatars and chatbots, which will tailor content to viewers' personal preferences.

Robots will surpass athletes on the sports field, exhibiting greater speed, accuracy and stamina than their human counterparts, and data scientists will be some of the best paid members of football clubs.

Even doctors will be largely replaced by AI physicians that will continually monitor your blood pressure, sugar levels, sleep and exercise, and record your voice for signs of a cold, dementia or a stroke.

"Our personal AI physician will have our life history, it will know far more about medicine than any single doctor, and it will stay on top of all the emerging medical literature," Professor Walsh said.

As society becomes less and less reliant on human input, people will become increasingly absorbed in virtual worlds that merge the best elements of Hollywood and the computer games industry.

Viewers will have complete control over the course of events, and avatars can be programmed to act and talk like anyone they choose - including long-dead celebrities like Marilyn Monroe.

However, there will be increasing concern about the seductive nature of these virtual worlds, and the risk of addicts abandoning reality in order to spend every waking moment in them.

They could also give people the opportunity to behave in distasteful or illegal ways, or live out their darkest fantasies without fear of recrimination.

"This problem will likely trouble our society greatly," Professor Walsh said. "There will be calls that behaviours which are illegal in the real world should be made illegal or impossible in the virtual."

Governments already rely heavily on hacking and cyber surveillance to gather intelligence about foreign enemies, but they will increasingly use these tools to carry out attacks.

Artificial intelligence will quickly surpass human hackers, and the only defence will be other AI programs, so governments will be forced to enter a cyber arms race with other nation states.

As these tools make their way onto the dark web and into the hands of cyber criminals, they will also be used to attack companies and financial institutions.

"Banks will have no choice but to invest more and more in sophisticated AI systems to defend themselves from attack," said Professor Walsh.

Humans will become further and further removed from these crimes, making tracking down the perpetrators increasingly difficult for law enforcement authorities.

If you thought that death would be sweet relief from this dystopian vision of the future, you can think again.

In 2050, humans will will live on as artificially intelligent chatbots after they die, according to Professor Walsh.

These chatbots will draw from social media and other sources to mimic the way you talk, recount the story of your life and comfort your family when you die.

Some people might even give their chatbot the task of reading their will, settling old scores, or relieving grief through humour.

This will of course raise all kinds of ethical questions, such as whether humans have a right know if they're interacting with a computer rather than a real person, and who can switch off your bot after you die.

"It will be an interesting future," said Professor Walsh.

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Six disturbing predictions about how artificial intelligence will transform life on Earth by 2050 - Mirror.co.uk

Intelligent systems may play the key to success through digital transformation and delivering on consumer expectations, but this will only be realised through intelligent deployment and management models

The predictions for AI use cases have been prolific and wide-ranging in recent years. From humanoid robots to predictive analytics for legal institutions, hedge funds, and more, there has rarely been more excitement generated by a technology than the current buzz emanating from AI software.

Application of this technology extends to mobile and telecommunications too. Here, it has become an important next step in helping operators transition from Communications Service Providers into more advanced Digital Service Providers that can predict their customers wants and needs.

AI is empowering service providers with a range of new capabilities such as deep learning, natural language processing, and cognitive computing to create a digital interface that will essentially deal directly with human beings, addressing and resolving customer service issues. Sound like science fiction, but its the new reality. AI is a huge catalyst for change, not just in telecoms, but almost every walk of life.

>See also:Making business smarter: 3 misconceptions about AI

So, what exactly is artificial intelligence? Is it about creating robots powered by super computers, which outperform their human counterparts? Or is it grounded in less futuristic, albeit still important, applications and in more sedate data crunching and algorithms than walking-and-talking machines? Its all of the above and more.

AI can be about simulating human intelligence, incorporating traits such as reasoning, perception, problem solving and forward planning. At its crux, though, AI is about the development and enactment of methods of transforming vast amounts of complex, often unstructured data into intelligent insights.

The key elements of artificial intelligence machine learning, cognitive computing, natural language processing, and sentiment analysis, combined with more effective real-time data management make this possible.

For example, rather than the time consuming and, due to human error, often inaccurate process of manually sifting through data and drawing conclusions, AI can rapidly automate processes.

It can establish rules and use algorithms to deliver accurate analytics and predictions. Importantly, this may also reveal hidden insights in data that would have been missed if the process were to be conducted by a human.

>See also:To err is human, so why not use an AI?

In turn, for service providers across all industries, this makes it possible to take much more informed actions as a result of predicting what customers will need and when, making timely, relevant, and attractive offers to drive sales and further engagement.

Findings from data can be utilised to improve services, develop new tools and technologies, and drive production or business efficiencies, in addition to wide-ranging benefits we are yet to realise. Although the terms are often used interchangeably or confused this more specific application of AI can be more closely defined as machine learning.

Much has been made of the opportunities AI can deliver to businesses and consumers, but the technology has attracted some negative publicity, particularly in relation to the potential impact of AI and robotics on the job market.

However, as with other technological and industrial revolutions which have come before it, the disappearance of jobs in some sectors coupled with the introduction of new technologies will likely spur the creation of new (human) roles in other areas of business.

New training and skills will be needed for workforces in order to adapt their jobs to the new opportunities AI presents, requiring new educators. AI technology will need maintaining and new systems will need to be developed, necessitating individuals with knowledge and experience in this new field. In addition, the automation of traditionally repetitive, administrative office jobs would arguably allow for more creativity and boost workforce morale, an advantage for any industry.

Questions over how to regulate and control AI have also become a key topic, particularly after Facebook was forced to shut down an artificial intelligence program after it created its own language.

In this instance, two bots created a series of code words and nonsensical text strings for communicating tasks. Although more efficient than a full English sentence, the phrases could not be interpreted by human controllers.

There is not enough evidence to suggest that this unforeseen development poses a threat, but its certainly a development that needs closer monitoring and regulation for the future of this technology.

>See also:How Tesco is using AI to gain customer insight

The ethics of AI and the role it will play in our lives continues to drive debate as a result. It has even split the opinions of two of Silicon Valleys most esteemed CEOs. Recently, Facebooks Mark Zuckerberg and Teslas Elon Musk found themselves embroiled in a very public row about the viability of AI, the benefits it can offer and the potential challenges it poses.

Zuckerberg was more optimistic focusing on the breakthroughs that have been made in healthcare and the development of self-driving cars. Its no surprise Zuckerberg holds this view given that Facebook has invested so heavily in AI. And, despite their differences, both CEOs have accepted AI will play a crucial role in improving their businesses.

Despite significant developments in AI over the past decade, full automation and computer super intelligence is still a while off yet. Where the technology has been making significant inroads, though, is in communications.

In the digital-first landscape of today, consumers are more demanding than ever. They expect always-on digital services and for engagement with service providers to be immediate, reliable, and on their terms through platforms of their choosing.

Until recently this engagement meant contacting a call centre, with delays and queues to connect to an operator. AI, and chatbots in particular, have revolutionised this space. Gartner recently predicted that by 2020, 85% of all customer interactions will be handled without a human agent.

Facebook launched its chatbot creation tools in 2016, allowing platform creators to build their own version of the technology and integrate these customer service tools into their business offering.

As of January 2017, a reported 45,000 developers were using Facebooks Wit.ai chatbot-building tool to create chatbots for Facebook Messenger.

>See also:The role of artificial intelligence in cyber security

In addition to driving customer satisfaction through quicker, more convenient interaction with companies, the use of chatbots can also prove a revenue-booster: an estimated 36% of sales representative positions in the US could be automated, meaning annual savings from salaries of at least $15 billion. However, it is not only in communications generally where AI is proving its worth, but in the telecommunications industry more specifically.

With the rise of disruptive new digital service providers (DSPs) and the continuing shift to data usage, mobile operators and communication service providers (CSPs) face threats to their traditional revenue streams.

Access to data services is now seen by consumers and businesses as a necessity, and, as the market has opened up to more competition and more choice consumers are demanding more from their service providers.

Although not solving all ills, AI can be seen as a force of differentiation that will empower service providers to drive value across their businesses. And not only in the customer interaction space but also in areas like network management and optimisation, and improving subscriber experiences through more accurate data visibility and analytics.

It is within this latter area that AI will play an essential role, ensuring telcos not only survive but thrive. The imminent arrival of next generation 5G technologies and networks, coupled with the rapidly expanding IoT will vastly increase the number of end-points a CSP/DSP must manage.

More consumer connected devices, a greater number of machine-to-machine (M2M) connections, and sensors embedded in infrastructure and vehicles will result in a dizzying amount of communication between technologies and information traversing networks.

This level of data is unmanageable for the human to process, yet an AI system can provide real time visibility and management of this information, delivering intelligent data analytics to improve processes.

AI can also extract data from one part of a business in order to place it in another, linking up sectors to allow them to learn from each other.

In the case of data from consumer devices, AI-grounded analysis can also be used to improve services for subscribers. Customer behaviour and engagement data can be gathered and processed more rapidly and in greater volumes, used to influence the development of optimal pricing models and create new services.

>See also:NHS Trust successfully fought back WannaCry ransomware with AI

The granular data insight garnered by AI goes beyond that capable of humans, meaning a deeper understanding and learning of competition data, such as BSS information, advertising and voice of the consumer type feedback.

AI will not just allow for reactive management of customer services, but, due to the predictive capabilities of the technology, itll also support proactive customer care. Implementing intelligence and automation will enable operators to anticipate the needs of their customers in order to engage with them via the channel of their choosing and at the time most suited to their preferences. For traditional CSPs looking to revitalise their business in order to keep up with innovative DSPs, this kind of action could prove a vital differentiator.

Artificial intelligence will also deliver huge benefits to network management. Many telcos have already introduced network functions virtualisation (NFV) and software defined networking (SDN), as well as moving processes and applications to the cloud. Artificial intelligence can be harnessed to aid efficient traffic routing, as well as managing network traffic capacity. Faults on an operators network can quickly be identified, and problems rectified.

Data on factors such as capacity demands and user behaviour can be analysed and networks can be automatically configured in response. Again, the use of AI technologies means these processes will be proactive rather than reactive.

Machine learning systems can be taught to recognise patterns in data and information, and networks and applications can be adjusted and altered in order to solve any problems before they impact the consumer.

Widespread implementation of such systems is a while off yet, although the aforementioned chatbots are making strides when it comes to CSPs and their customer service offerings.

>See also:AIs impact on customer experience

Indeed, many CSPs are ready for a full transformation towards AI implementations, whilst others are taking it at a slower pace. This said, in addition to developing and fine tuning AI systems, an operator or any business considering implementing AI must recognise the level of risk associated with this move, and ensure they implement strategies and business models to maximise opportunity whilst reducing risk.

Artificial intelligence can help boost efficiencies, aid customer engagement and services, and drive revenue as a result. However, any potential financial gain must be weighed against the cost of investing in an AI strategy.

This cost includes not only the AI tech itself, but the training which will be needed to ensure that workforces are trained to support implementation, and any new skills required added to the business through new hires.

This may include change management committees, which can help to manage an AI implementation process, including overseeing the cultural changes which are often experienced when a business makes such a dramatic move.

Finally, many traditional CSPs will likely have already experienced challenges caused by digital transformation in the industry. Building an AI system in-house could easily exacerbate any problems, so companies wishing to make this move should consider looking to external suppliers to instead create and help deploy any new system.

Even after 60-plus years, artificial intelligence is still a while off peak maturity. Equally, the implementation by any business of an AI strategy should not be a rushed process. The benefits artificial intelligence can deliver will be great, but these must always be costed against potential pitfalls.

Intelligent systems may play the key to success through digital transformation and delivering on consumer expectations, but this will only be realised through intelligent deployment and management models.

Sourced byJonathan Kaftzan, head of Digital & Intelligence marketing at Amdocs

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Artificial intelligence is transforming the enterprise - Information Age