Will your Industry be impacted?
Ben Bradshaw
As discussed previously in Part 1 of this article (The Future of Artificial Intelligence), many industries are rapidly changing to accommodate the ever-growing world of AI. Understandably, this is an area of concern for many entrepreneurs and business owners, with many questioning how their industry may be impacted.
Having already covered the Health Care, Manufacturing and Customer Service industries in Part 1, it’s now time to dive into some more examples. Hopefully this will help to put your mind at ease, and inspire you to think of how you can embrace technological advancements such as AI in your chosen industry. So let’s get into it!
ACCOUNTING AND FINANCE
We’ve already seen a rise in the amount of ‘robo-advisors’ assisting people with financial advice and recommendations, so it’s really no great stretch to imagine that our future will involve greater use of cognitive computer programs. An example of an intelligent system already in place is TurboTax, which can automatically file your taxes into the right forms!
WAR
We’ve already seen aerial bombing drones used in Afghanistan and Pakistan. With drones now becoming more accessible, cost efficient and intelligent than ever, many people are hopeful that the engineering of AI robotics and smart technology may help to decrease the number of humans having to carry out particularly dangerous tasks.
Given that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) are currently researching two ‘self-flying’ aircraft devices, and that Boston Dynamics have already created a robot named ‘Cheetah’ (that can outrun Usain Bolt), along with two ‘Big Dog’ machines (one that can toss a cinderblock 17 feet, and a ‘weaponised’ version with terrifying bullhorns), it’s really only a matter of time before we see an increase in war robots replacing humans. As fantastic as this concept is, it does, of course mean that the Army could see a decrease in the number of soldiers it employs to do particular tasks. On the other hand, it’s likely that we will see new jobs pop up for developers and ‘machine overseers.’
LAW
According to recent research it has been estimated that 23% of a lawyer’s time is ‘automatable’ (McKinsey & Co) and that 13% can be performed by computers (Frank Levy, 2015). With AI able to sort through and scour endless amounts of information, some believe we may see a cut in the number of people – particularly law students – who are hired in the future to do mundane research. For example, earlier this year Ross Intelligence partnered with law firm BakerHostetler, to use AI technology for bankruptcy matters.
According to CNBC (2016) Ross Intelligence have also claimed that the language processing capabilities of AI can allow forms of machine learning to assist with litigation preparation; responding to questions posted by lawyers, and then gathering the evidence, sifting through various laws and drawing inferences about the material collected.
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TRANSPORTATION
Google are already in the testing phase of self-driving cars, and while it may seem somewhat scary to imagine travelling in a driver-less vehicle, reports so far have pointed toward a decrease in traffic congestion, energy costs and accidents (FOW Community). According to research it has been suggested that autonomous vehicles could be introduced into controlled environments – such as mining – in 2023, and fully adopted by 2037 (McKinsey). The introduction of self-driving cars will cause huge disruption to the economy, and are most likely to impact on courier industries, along with – inevitably – insurance agencies.
The future of AI is advancing forward at a rapid rate. While it’s hard to say when the aforementioned industries above might be impacted, brands and entrepreneurs will need to stay on the ball if they hope to outlast AI in their profession!
