This blog was written by Michelle Quigley.
Contributions to this blog were made by JJ Conoscenti, Business Development Specialist.
Elon Musk thinks Artificial Intelligence (AI) will create machines that will wipe us out. Others think it’s the next technological revolution. Whether it’s the key to the future or our ultimate demise, both of those predictions are plenty of years away from materializing. What we are seeing now is that Artificial Intelligence has a lot of potential, both for the enterprise and for the individual. Let’s take a look at the growth of AI and how it is changing one of America’s favorite pastimes - football.
HISTORY OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
The concept of Artificial Intelligence has a long and complicated history. Consumer fascination of AI has stemmed from the books we’ve read and the movies we’ve seen. Businesses and governments have shared in this fascination, and as far back as 20 years ago, they were spending billions of dollars on AI, convinced we would enter the 21st century surrounded by robots. Neither perception was quite true and first wave attempts have largely missed the mark.
What we’re seeing now, however, is a shift to a new era in Artificial Intelligence. IBM’s Watson has a skill level that rivals human reasoning. Siri, Google Now, and Cortana can transform language into precise searches. Facebook and Amazon have learned our behaviors and preferences - now they can provide intelligent recommendations. All of this is leading to tremendous growth in Artificial Intelligence, permeating both our personal and professional lives .
THE NEW ERA OF AI
AI growth has been most visible and transformational in these categories: Language, Tact, Personality, and Empathy.
Let’s look at this deeper. AI without a language isn’t AI at all, it’s a smart computer. Communication, both written and oral, is a powerful tool to learn and get things done, so this can not be a barrier. A huge focus for AI has been creating a “natural language” - learning to speak how we speak. AI is also focusing on tact, the ability to sensitively and skillfully deal with situations. This is essential as AI moves to the forefront of our interactions.
These changes amount to more humanized AI. Names like Siri, Cortana, and Watson, give our assistants personality. They’re also gaining empathy, learning to listen to us and providing intelligent recommendations based on our preferences.
Tremendous growth has obviously caught the eye of many investors. There is a growing number of AI startups being funded -Sentient Technologies, for example, has raised over $100 million in only a few years. Businesses are also adopting an acquisition strategy. IBM has Watson, which is making cross-industry impacts. Google acquired AI startup DeepMind in January 2014, and Facebook recently purchased Wit.ai to help developers with speech recognition and voice interfaces.
ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?
If you’re anything like us, you agonize over the perfect draft pick at the start of the season, and dedicate time each week to ensure you have the best possible lineup. But thankfully, you crushed the competition in the first week, and you’re looking forward to defeating each of your co-workers one-by-one in your office Fantasy Football League.
For those of you who need a little extra help, there’s a new player in the game.
IBM’s self learning supercomputer, Watson, might be best known for beating “Jeopardy!” champ, Ken Jennings, but when he’s not answering Daily Doubles, Watson watches football.
Recently, Watson’s technology has been applied towards sports and making predictions on game outcomes.
A startup built on top of Watson, called Edge Up, launched on Kickstarter last month that lets fantasy sports fans spend less time researching pundits’ opinions and more time watching the game by aggregating news articles across the web. It will use that information to build a profile for each athlete to determine their physical, mental, and circumstantial performance. From there, Watson will be able to help you determine your lineup.
Edge Up’s differentiating feature is that Watson uses natural language processing tools to understand which players are being talked about and if it’s in a positive or negative light. Watson will scour the web for content on a players to determine how he might perform in the next game. Now you’ll be able to make smarter decisions and feel more confident about your draft picks.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
AI has made significant strides in a relatively short amount of time, but there’s still plenty of work to be done. If applied correctly, Watson and others like it don’t have to replace our workforce like many fear. Instead, artificially intelligent machines can help us on the job to make smarter decisions and provide meaningful insights. For example, Watson has also been “going to med school” and learning about the body and he recently identified six new proteins linked to cancer.
So, what kind of insights could technology like Watson provide if applied to the enterprise? Manufacturers could become more efficient, retailers can provide more relevant information to consumers, marketers could make more engaging content, and financial analysts could make more informed decisions.
This may not be the Artificial Intelligence that we’ve all seen in the movies, but it’s definitely something to get excited about. Here’s to a more intelligent future and a successful fantasy football season!
