We’re in the midst of a revolution. An Artificial Intelligence revolution. One that will take away mundane and formal jobs, leaving us with more time for innovation and creativity. It all sounds great. But just how much of our daily lives are we really ready to hand over to AI?

Man + Machine

For years machines have been helping us with tasks where accuracy and efficiency is required. Jobs such as financial analysis, engineering and even flying. Machines process the data to help humans make the right decisions. The future however, is an even greater collaboration between man and machine. This is known as the Centaur.

The Centaur takes the best attributes to form the perfect partnership. Machines are better at formulating answers, whereas humans are better at asking questions. The very best medical teams in the world are human doctors, powered by IBM Watson. Doctors will carry out a diagnosis, with the support of AI technology.

The next level of personalisation

IBM Watson is a technology platform that uses natural language processing and machine learning to reveal insights from large amounts of unstructured data. The ubiquity of the smartphone means were all emitting huge amounts of data every day. Information we’re happy to exchange for personalised and useful services. For many the systems we connect to through our smartphones have become an extension of our personality. Giving machines access to that level of personal data opens up endless possibilities.

In April, North Face launched an app in collaboration with IBM Watson. The new service enables online visitors to have a real-time question and answer conversation with a virtual shopping assistant. North Face has 350 jackets, with different weights, styles, and protection levels; this new app helps customers figure out exactly what they need, saving them from the usual online shopping experience of scrolling through pages of images.

A formula for the next 10,000 start-ups

It’s interesting to see the impact AI is having on traditional business models.

Maple is an AI powered delivery-only restaurant based in New York. From delivery routes to menu planning, the system ensures the restaurant runs as efficiently as possible. It forecasts how many ingredients to buy and tells the chefs what to cook and when. It even knows which dish will be popular at different times of the day, and during different weather conditions.

AI can help businesses forecast and plan much more accurately, helping to keep waste to a minimum. Small changes can make a huge difference when scaled up, and can have a massive impact on the wider economy and environment.

“You have to understand that this is going to affect individual careers, individual tasks, individual jobs, the whole ecosystem of commerce because I think you can take whatever X you want, and you can add AI technology to it. That’s the formula for the next 10,000 start-ups.” Said Kevin Kelly, Founder of Wired magazine. “It’s just find something that we previously electrified, and that we’re going to cognify. We’re going to add intelligence, smartness to it.”

Who are your competitors?

AI is getting smarter. It’s estimated by 2026 Google will be an AI company, and Facebook is using AI to train it’s AI. But what does this mean for brands now?

Kevin Plank CEO of Under Armour counts Apple among his competitors. Not because he’s worried they’re going to make the next bestselling pair of sneakers, but because he considers Under Armour to be a technology company.

In order to avoid being left behind brands need to take a step back from the day-to-day tasks, look beyond traditional competitors, and consider what the Intelligence Revolution could mean for their customers and sector.