On October 28th of 2013, a company called Vicarious passed the first Turing test. “Huh?”, you might be wondering. In a nutshell, it means that a computer fooled a human being into thinking it was another human being. For those not familiar with Artificial Intelligence, or “AI”, that is a very, very big deal. It is a “humans realizing the earth is round” kind of a big deal.
Because a very convincing computer fooled somebody into thinking it was “thinking”, everything you know is going to change, including the day to day activities in the humble office. Here are a list of some AI applications coming to an office near you:
1. WWW Search:
Gone are the days of “typing” your search requests when browsing the world wide web. Google’s “Google Now”, Microsoft’s “Cortanna”, IBM’s “Watson” are all making it easier to ask for information with your voice instead of with your fingers. These applications aren’t mere voice recognition applications. They actively “learn” from your search behavior to make future searches more in line with your personality and preferences.
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2. Breaking News:
The next email you receive about breaking news or the latest investment news may have been written entirely by a computer. Firms like Quill and Automated Insights are having computers create “narratives” and “stories” around data-heavy information sets. Looks like Anderson Cooper might get some stiff competition from an unexpected area!
3. Web Design:
Look very carefully at the next web page you visit, it may have been designed entirely by computers.The Grid currently has over 21,000 founding members and hope to have full funding by late spring of 2015. Their goal is to create websites without human intervention. I’m sure my marketing team will be thrilled!
4. Marketing:
Artificial Intelligence is alive and well in the world of marketing and growing quickly. Artificial Intelligence is already used in advertising by the likes of Google and Facebook. More and more companies will be using Artificial Intelligence to selectively advertise to potential customers based on individual preferences and likes. Google purchased Deep Minds Technologies and will be using AI for much more than asking you to click advertising links. They will be directing personalized advertising like never before.
5. Office Print:
The days of people printing documents willy-nilly are behind us. Companies like Print Audit have created a host of intelligent tool-sets that help users not to have to “think” about how to print more responsibly. By applying Intelligent Rule-sets to office printing workflows companies will save money and ensure document security like never before. No more documents laying around in piles next to devices! Computers are way better at deciding what should be printed in colour and duplex and what should not be printed at all.
Artificial Intelligence has begun to impact the modern office far sooner than most experts would have predicted. What new AI technologies are around the corner? How long before you see HAL at the office water cooler? I look forward to your comments and insights about AI and the modern office.