Once just a sci-fi concept from the movies, AI is now a reality that is completely changing the world. Constant advances in technology made it possible for AI to creep its way into our lives and it's clear that it is definitely here to stay.
According to a Business Insider Artificial Intelligence Technologies Research Report 2018-2025, the AI market is expected to grow to a whopping $59 billion by 2025. AI is absolutely revolutionizing various industries and its presence in many different market verticals is felt stronger with each coming day.
AI is quickly affecting every part of our lives and its applications are incredibly plentiful. We are definitely bound to witness its impact on every single industry and business in the coming years but, right now, there are almost a dozen verticals that are affected by AI the most. Read on to explore how AI is impacting them.
E-commerce
AI is completely transforming the way we shop online. Retailers are harnessing its power to learn more about their target customers and provide them with exactly what they need. With the help of AI-powered software solutions and machine learning development, which is a subset of AI, retailers are gaining an insight into their customers' needs and preferences, so that they can optimize their content and ads and effectively target consumers.
For instance, you're browsing through a particular website's products in search for a new pair of jeans. The next thing you know, you see lots of different ads on Facebook offering jeans. That's what machine learning is about. AI-powered software analyzes your shopping behavior and purchase history and provides retailers with a chance to get your attention and sell you their products.
Chatbots play a huge role here as well, as they can serve as virtual assistants helping people find what they need. They can provide product suggestions to e-commerce website visitors and even process orders and payments, creating seamless online shopping experiences.
Related article: What is a Chatbot and How to Use It for Your Business
Customer service
Customer service is one of the verticals that AI affects the most. Instead of submitting tickets and dialing call centers, only to be put on hold, consumers can now interact with chatbots and get instant answers to all their questions.
Chatbots are available 24/7, they can hold multiple conversations at the same time and they can provide personalized service, since they have access to all customer data, including previous purchases. Due to machine learning and NLP (Natural-Language Processing), they can learn from all their interactions and easily recognize speech patterns and different contexts. They can even recognize emotions and respond accordingly.
Hospitality
AI is also greatly impacting hotels, restaurants, bars and other businesses providing hospitality services, as they can learn more about their customers and provide them with fast and personalized service. One of the most significant benefits of AI in the hospitality industry is the ability to leverage chatbots to enable customers to book and pay for services seamlessly online.
AI enables customers to book a table at their favorite restaurant on-the-go, order food and drinks, and have everything waiting for them on arrival. Or, booking a hotel room, ordering room service, and requesting information about amenities, all with a few clicks on their smartphone or tablet.
But it's not just about convenience. By using AI technology, businesses in the hospitality industry can gain valuable insights into their customers' preferences and behavior. This information can then be used to tailor services and offers to individual customers, creating a more personalized and engaging experience. For example, hotels can use AI to suggest local attractions and experiences based on a guest's preferences, while restaurants can suggest menu items based on a customer's previous orders.
Aviation
More and more airline companies are adopting AI technologies, which every single traveler certainly couldn't be happier about, as they can use chatbots to book and check in their flights and pay for their tickets instantly via their smartphones.
AI is also helping airlines attract new customers by analyzing their online behaviour and traveling needs and preferences and sending them offers regarding their preferred travel destinations. AI is especially beneficial when it comes frequent flyers, as airlines can easily learn more about them and regularly send them personalized offers.
According to a last year's survey by senior IT executives at SITA, 52% of airlines plan on integrating AI, while 68% of airlines say that they intend to adopt AI-powered chatbots in the next three years. This is much greater than the percentage of airlines that are currently using AI chatbots, which is 14%, according to the survey. The survey also showed that 80% of airlines plan to invest in prediction and warning systems that rely on AI.
Healthcare
AI has very promising applications in healthcare. People can use AI-powered apps to schedule consultations, get instant answers to FAQs and even get immediate help when needed. They are increasingly using medical chatbots to get personalized treatments, as they can simply enter their symptoms and medical history and receive instant advice regarding proper steps they need to take.
Healthcare professionals can use AI technology to automate data entry and other menial tasks, which not only eliminates the risk of human error, but also saves plenty of time that they can focus on providing their patients with the best possible care. AI and machine learning also greatly help with medical research and drug discovery, as well as medical imaging and robotic surgery.
Related article Innovative Trends in Medical Software Development
Education
AI is making a huge impact in education as well, but not in the sense of replacing teachers, which it certainly cannot do. One of AI's primary applications in education has to do with grading.
With AI-driven apps, teachers can automatically grade their students and not only save a lot of time, but also ensure that no errors in grading take place. Of course, you can't exactly grade an essay with AI, but you can grade time-consuming multiple-choice questions.
Where AI can help immensely is creating personalized lessons. Not everyone has the same learning style and we all learn at a different pace, not to mention that everyone has different strengths and weaknesses regarding different subjects. This is why teachers are using AI to help them analyze previous learning patterns and come up with learning plans that meet every learner's needs.
HR
HR managers have a lot of tasks on their plate concerning monitoring, analyzing and approving financial processing, payroll, reporting, budget and various other financial operations. AI can greatly help them with all those tasks, as it can sift through enormous amounts of data in just a matter of seconds and provide accurate results.
One of the main applications of AI in HR has to do with transforming the recruitment process. AI-driven software can quickly go through a number of job applications, thoroughly analyzing them and finding the best candidates, at the same time completely eliminating any kind of bias.
Related article: How HR Software Can Boost Your Business
IT Security
AI is increasingly being deployed in IT security, since it can effectively fight security threats and provide a very high level of data protection. This is because IT security systems that are powered by AI can accurately predict and instantly detect any kind of cybersecurity breach attempt, successfully preventing them before they even happen.
Since they use machine learning, the more data they analyze, the more they learn how to protect IT systems from potential hackers. They are consistently becoming more sophisticated and powerful. Also, IT companies are increasingly implementing chatbots to handle their tech support, quickly resolving their customers' issues, no matter the time of day.
Finance
AI is extremely beneficial to banks and other financial institutions. Not only can it save plenty of time on various repetitive tasks, but it can also detect and prevent fraudulent transactions and theft by analyzing consumer behavior and potential financial risks.
More and more banks are launching their own chatbots to improve their services and help their customers manage their payments online with just a few clicks. Chatbots can help them transfer money, check their balances and even locate the nearest ATMs.
AI can also be of great help in the insurance vertical, as chatbots can be used to seamlessly manage insurance claims, provide personalized quotes and manage payments, to name just a few of the use cases.
Transportation
Transportation is yet another area where AI is completely changing the game. Driverless cars are no longer just a distant dream, as companies like Tesla, Mercedes-Benz, Ford and even Google are investing enormous amounts of money into building both semi-autonomous and completely self-driving vehicles.
Although some driverless cars are already on the streets, they have a long way to go before they can become completely safe. However, AI car systems can provide drivers with data-driven guidance and not only optimize their experiences on the road, but also help them avoid potential accidents.
By having real-time access to traffic cameras, weather forecasts and information about construction sites, for instance, AI-powered systems can help drivers avoid traffic congestion and roads in bad conditions.
Learning computers are becoming smarter with each coming day and they present a whole world of amazing opportunities for businesses in every single industry. AI really is the future and that future is finally here, so every business should embrace it as soon as possible. The sooner they do it, the sooner they can delight their customers and set their organizations on the path to consistent growth.
This is a guest post by Anya Skrba. Anya is a part of the Content Team at DesignContest, a website with a community that's shaped by the joint efforts of talented designers and contest holders. It is created to connect people who are looking for any kind of web design services with professional designers.
