AI Technologies & Platforms

IBM's Project Debater loses debate but shows off AI prowess

While Project Debater, the IBM AI debate system, lost the live IBM Think 2019 debate, it impressed those who watched the event. Maybe next time, Debater. Continue Reading

By

• Mark Labbe

IBM Think 2019 coverage: Spotlight on data and AI analytics

This guide compiles news, analysis and trend stories from IBM Think 2019 and before the conference, focusing on IBM's AI, advanced analytics and data management technologies. Continue Reading

By

• Craig Stedman, Senior Reporter

The new AI frontier: Hyperpersonalized automated advertising

AI-powered automated advertising is being utilized to connect consumer to products, leading to more sales. Simply put: Hyperpersonalized content is taking over the ad space. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Walch, Project Management Institute

More AI in retail stores means more personalization

Cheaper and more easily accessible AI developer tools are part of the reason why traditional retailers are better at marketing personalized experiences to customers. Continue Reading

By

• Mark Labbe

Using AI for invoices lets ControlExpert add structure to data

By using Abbyy software and OCR technology, ControlExpert can automatically process and classify millions of structured and unstructured documents and invoices. Continue Reading

By

• Mark Labbe

Using AI in manufacturing processes surges quality and design

The addition of AI in manufacturing leads to increased workflow -- from design to production. Production plants are turning to technology to supplement the manufacturing skills gap. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Walch, Project Management Institute

AI in 2019 will be all about bots and pre-trained models

2019 promises to be a big year for AI, as we're likely to see some trends -- such as adoption of virtual assistants and strong venture capital funding -- continue and others emerge. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Walch, Project Management Institute

AI winter is coming? Not this time, Tom Davenport says

A new AI winter, or downturn, is unlikely, even if the current slew of inflated expectations surrounding AI predicts inevitable disappointment, analytics expert Tom Davenport says. Continue Reading

By

• Ed Burns

Davenport: AI-based projects should be focused in scope

New AI projects in enterprises should focus on achievable goals rather than try to reinvent business processes or products and services, Tom Davenport says. Continue Reading

By

• Ed Burns

The future of AI technology: 2019 and beyond

Enterprise AI trends in 2019 will likely include more AI-powered tools for healthcare and fintech, as well as accelerating consolidation among smaller AI vendors. Continue Reading

By

• Mark Labbe

Formula E technology driven by data analytics and AI

Formula E racing team EVR hopes to drive wins and innovation with a new partnership with Genpact, a professional services firm that offers an AI and analytics platform. Continue Reading

By

• Mark Labbe

Oracle-DataFox acquisition could expand users' AI options

Oracle AI capabilities are likely to see a boost, as the vendor now has access to machine learning algorithms that can automatically distill useful information from large bodies of text. Continue Reading

By

• Mark Labbe

NLP vs. NLU and the growing ability of machines to understand

NLP and NLU technologies are becoming more prominent in the enterprise. The former simply parses words, but the latter aims at a deeper level of understanding. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Walch, Project Management Institute

AI in fashion design and retail takes center stage

AI and fashion are a natural pairing as clothing designers and retailers are using technology to monitor what's hot and improve the efficiency of manufacturing and supply chains. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Walch, Project Management Institute

AI for accessibility helps people with disabilities

AI for people with disabilities is making a meaningful difference in their ability to navigate the world and participate in all the activities of daily life. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Walch, Project Management Institute

Jumio identity verification technology benefits from AI

ID verification technology is boosted by products of AI and machine learning, including natural language processing, image processing and biometric tools. Continue Reading

By

• Mark Labbe

Current state of AI is poorly understood by the public

Current applications of AI revolve entirely around machine learning. But researcher Zachary Lipton says that's not the message you get from most media coverage of AI. Continue Reading

By

• Ed Burns

AI in policing is controversial but delivers results

The drive toward more predictive policing is only growing stronger as computer vision and other AI tools are put to use. But not everyone is happy with the trend. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Walch, Project Management Institute

Use of AI in video games boosts playing experience

The combination of AI and gaming is not necessarily a new phenomenon, but it is gaining traction and contributing to more true-to-life and engaging experiences. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Walch, Project Management Institute

Bot security through AI openness

To ensure consumers interact with secure bots and AI tools, vendors like IBM and BotChain propose more AI transparency and have designed ways to achieve that. Continue Reading

By

• Mark Labbe

AI in sports helps teams and leagues engage with fans

The use of artificial intelligence in sports industry is a growing trend that is helping leagues and teams engage with fans and improve the quality of in-game officiating. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Walch, Project Management Institute

AI in real estate smooths paper-based processes

The use of AI applications in real estate aims to make the paper-based processes of buying and selling property more reliable and repeatable. Continue Reading

By

• Ron Schmelzer, Scalebrate and Small Team Big Scale Podcast

Automated journalism creeps into newsrooms leaning on AI

The use of AI in journalism is gaining steam and, at this early stage, newsrooms are still looking at how the tools can be used to help reporters tell deeper stories. Continue Reading

By

• Ron Schmelzer, Scalebrate and Small Team Big Scale Podcast

AI in hospitality industry helps smooth travel turbulence

A growing number of hotels using AI are reporting streamlined customer service and improved cross-sell opportunities, but the biggest benefits likely lay ahead. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Walch, Project Management Institute

AI in restaurants takes customer service to the next level

Restaurants face challenges that include low margins and high turnover, but the use of chatbots is helping some restaurant chains address these perennial difficulties. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Walch, Project Management Institute

Where the IBM Project Debater AI system may be headed

Unveiled during a live debate in June, IBM's Project Debater will be partially released in 2019 and could have real-life applications, particularly in education. Continue Reading

By

• Mark Labbe

Reskilling the analytics team: Math, science and creativity

Technical skills are a must for data scientists. But to make analytics teams successful, they also need to think creatively, work in harmony and be good communicators. Continue Reading

By

• Nipa Basu

Customer support chatbots set to transform service functions

AI-enabled chatbots are helping enterprises improve their customer service functions by automating some tasks, enabling human workers to focus on what really matters. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Walch, Project Management Institute

AI for recruiting helps companies land top job candidates

More enterprises are using AI in hiring today, a practice that can help surface strong applicants. But there are several pitfalls businesses need to watch for. Continue Reading

By

• Ron Schmelzer, Scalebrate and Small Team Big Scale Podcast

AI in insurance forces big changes to traditional industry

Insurance companies using AI are forcing firms in this traditional industry to grapple with new technology and evaluate emerging risks that could impact their bottom lines. Continue Reading

By

• Ron Schmelzer, Scalebrate and Small Team Big Scale Podcast

Tech experts weigh in on the AI hype cycle

AI expectations couldn't be any higher. Read why leading industry experts believe the hype is deserved and what developers can do to deliver on the technology's weighty promise. Continue Reading

By

• Ed Burns

Limits of AI today push general-purpose tools to the horizon

The future of AI should be focused on more general-purpose tools, but developers have a long way to go before achieving the kind of AI movies taught us to expect. Continue Reading

By

• Torsten Volk, Principal Analyst

New data science platforms aim to be workflow, collaboration hubs

Oracle's acquisition of DataScience.com is shining a spotlight on workbench-style platforms designed to centralize advanced analytics work by teams of data scientists. Continue Reading

By

• Craig Stedman, Senior Reporter

AI in call centers amplifies customer voice

Speech analytics use cases involving customer contact centers show how AI technology can make sense out of messy human language, helping businesses along the way. Continue Reading

By

• George Lawton

How one company thinks chatbots and AI can change insurance

Insurance agency management company In-Fi is hoping AI chatbots can streamline homeowner insurance applications and bring the process in line with customers' expectations. Continue Reading

By

• Ed Burns

AI virtual assistant tools prove better for customer service than chatbots

AI virtual assistant software is increasingly surpassing chatbots and natural language search, as enterprises see deeper value in enabling true conversation. Continue Reading

By

• Ed Burns

Humans and AI tools go hand in hand in analytics applications

Companies are keeping data analysts and other workers in the loop with AI applications to check the results generated by automated algorithms for accuracy, relevance and missing info. Continue Reading

By

• Craig Stedman, Senior Reporter

AI experts advise developers on dev tools

New tools help developers build better, smarter AI apps, as machine learning toolkits have progressed exponentially over the last few years. Continue Reading

By

• Darryl K. Taft

AI functionality limited today but could be a game-changer

Limited AI capabilities could soon give way to technology that is truly transformative for enterprises, surpassing the overhyped functionality that we see today. Continue Reading

By

• Ed Burns

Slow to gain traction, AI apps on the verge of explosion

From chatbots ("Can I help you?") to killer bots ("I'll be back."), artificial intelligence runs the gamut of applications and emotions like no other technology. It's been nearly 70 years since AI first came into consciousness with humankind, yet only recently has it made serious inroads into business and consumer markets, mainly riding the coattails of its offshoot, machine learning.

AI's other offspring -- deep learning, cognitive computing, image recognition and natural language processing -- show plenty of promise but have barely left the womb. Yet market research and industry foot soldiers tell us AI is on the cusp of explosive growth in practically every major industry.

Along those lines, the February issue of Business Information opens with our editor's note, which provides a good dose of common sense and advice for businesses not to throw caution to the whirlwind of hyperbole surrounding AI. Companies anxious to apply AI, particularly machine learning, to their operations for fear they'll fall behind the competition, must first do their homework and separate fact from fiction, all the while keeping in mind that implementing AI apps is difficult and requires time, expense and the right kind of data.

Our cover story takes the issue of good data one step further and examines the very real dangers that bias in machine learning data sets can create. Data scientists have their work cut out for them identifying and pinpointing bias, especially since nearly all data inherently contains bias. In another feature, we look at the usefulness of today's AI tools, which, except for some niche AI apps, are not very useful, but they come with a whole lot of promise as a soon-to-be transformative force in business operations.

Also in this issue, a major components manufacturer uses AI apps to transform its assembly line process, cognitive computing can help improve a doctor's bedside manner, the benefits of AI and machine learning entice healthcare organizations to move to the cloud and humankind's range of reactions to AI's unlimited potential parallel those of the atomic age.

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Machine vision makes paper a thing of the past for insurers

The insurance industry is buried in paper-based processes. Former MetLife CIO Gary Hoberman aims to change that with a platform that runs on AI and machine vision. Continue Reading

By

• Nicole Laskowski, Senior News Director

Chatbot applications must get better at chatting to engage users

Today's AI chatbots are good at taking orders and delivering scripted responses, but experts say tomorrow's chatbots need to be more conversational in order to deliver bigger value. Continue Reading

By

• Ed Burns

Synthetic data could ease the burden of training data for AI models

Sometimes it's better to manufacture training data for machine learning models than it is to collect it. Continue Reading

By

• Nicole Laskowski, Senior News Director

Dun & Bradstreet's chief data scientist: Don't ignore these eight AI topics

Anthony Scriffignano's list of AI topics to watch in 2018 highlights the benefits and complications the widespread application of artificial intelligence technology will have on the enterprise in the coming year. Continue Reading

By

• Nicole Laskowski, Senior News Director

Using Microsoft Cluster Services for virtual machine clustering

Microsoft Cluster Services are useful for the different virtual machine (VM) clustering scenarios that are available, such as cluster in a box, and help with cluster node creation. Continue Reading