How AI Fueled Success in Various Sectors in India in 2017
The power of AI (artificial Intelligence) is now new to none! It has been tried and tested almost across all the sectors of the country, has been showing commendable results and promises a drool-worthy future. Andrew NG, commonly referred as the AI Guru, states “AI is the new electricity”. This very single line, sums up the essence of the power of AI technology and its capabilities to make the impossible, possible. Predictions from analysts suggests that by the end of next three years, AI technologies will be virtually pervasive in almost every new software product and service. The growth in the AI technology can also be gauged from the recent report by Gartner which predicts that by 2020, AI will be a top five investment priority for more than 30 percent of CIOs.
Be it the education sector, healthcare, travel, BPOs, or any other. AI seems to have touched all of them, and how! Starting from the tech giants of the world like Google, Facebook, Amazon to the newly launched startups, AI has been shaping the future for all and opening news avenues for business expansion, customer interaction, client acquisition, and other key aspects. The question that companies today faces is not ‘will AI be helpful for our business’, rather they evaluate ‘How can we make the best use of AI to accelerate growth’.
Some major sectors hit by the AI wave successfully, includes –
Concierge sector: This has been among the top sectors impacted by AI. There has been a multitude of apps today that guarantee on-demand service on chat. But the technology is not actually as easy as it sounds. In it goes, years of experience and understanding of how technology can make things better for both the company as well as the customers. AI has brought in automation in the entire process. If you’re travelling, an AI-powered bot is capable of booking you a cab, bus, hotel, find restaurants to eat at and a lot more, exactly inline with your preferences and exactly how a human agent would do - just faster, more accurate and consistent. That’s precisely what we’re trying to do with Niki.
Healthcare: AI’s most significant aspect is its precision, once it is programmed for a task. AI is widely being used in this sector for data analysis, lab result interpretation, clinical documentation, and for various other purposes. For instance, Google’s Deep Mind and IBM’s Watson have made it easier for doctors/hospitals to process large amount of data such as patient records, clinical notes, images and treatment plans and carry out pattern recognition in a short time period.
Finance: It is probably the most interesting field to analyse how it has used AI so effectively already and still has an entire journey to unfold ahead. From biggies like national banks to startups that are into fintech space, all are experimenting with AI and are making the best use of it. AI has a lot of use cases in finance - a few to name being automation in sectors like insurance, wealth management, lending and more. For instance, the tie up between HDFC Bank and Niki.ai for chatbot banking (HDFC Bank OnChat) turned out to be a massive hit by reaching 160% m-o-m growth for the former in terms of orders. Both the brands are also working on coming up with an automated stock broker as well as insurance agent.
Education: AI in the education sector has enabled schools and colleges to provide a more conducive learning environment, as well as efficient use of existing resources. Some notable AI-led advancements in this field includes, automation of grading, identifying gaps in curriculums, and creative ways to helps student learn better. The recent move by Intel India Intel India to collaborate with 40 academic institutions to train developers, students and professors in AI depicts that AI is here to rule the education sector too.
While apprehensions with regards to the AI eating up huge chunks of jobs in India are ablaze, there are many who have realised the other side to it and understood how AI will lead to job creation. Whenever a new technology comes up (we are talking about something as BIG as AI), it automatically demands training, and skilling. We will certainly have new jobs like robot psychologist and robot ethicist. Any sector that will use AI intensively, will need people in new job roles for various fulfillment purposes. So, we see how AI not only will make our lives easy, but also open up new opportunities for one and all.
