A collaboration between AT&T Foundry, Ericsson and innovation hub RocketSpace is investigating how artificial intelligence (AI) technologies is expected to impact consumers and businesses alike.
The report, titled The Future of Artificial Intelligence in Consumer Experience, analyses how AI and automation will affect the way consumers will go about their day-to-day lives and how businesses should adapt and cater to these changes.
The research refers to forecasts which predict annual global revenue from AI products and services to grow from $643.7 million in 2016 to as high as $36.5 – $100 billion by 2025.
The report cites falling costs of back-end technologies and growth in capital investments from major organisations as key trends which have allowed AI to prove its commercial value. It adds that the efficiency and accuracy of the technology are also attracting greater attention from both the research and business worlds.
According to the research, consumers are becoming increasingly accustomed to content discovery, self-driving cars and more automated solutions, which is leading to an expectation for highly personalised experiences.
The authors argue that as AI becomes normalised, industry players must implement AI technologies so that consumers across all aspects of the business can benefit. This means, it suggests, that all data storage and transfers should be optimised to create a seamless customer experience.
‘In a world where businesses compete on customer experience, practice applications of AI will set companies apart and lead to proactive, intelligent, and thoughtful relationships with their customers,’ commented Mikhail Naumov of AI customer service platform DigitalGenius.
The paper further suggests that companies should ensure that AI technologies which are rolled out to the public have been thoroughly checked for systematic biases which can appear within algorithms.
Concerns regarding the social impact of data sharing, AI and automation are also raised by the researchers. From privacy rights to job replacements, there are many industry initiatives to counteract these potentially harmful effects.
Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and IBM have launched a partnership specifically designed to ensure that technology benefits people and society. The effort intends to work alongside academics and researchers to build trust in AI and speak to fears and perceptions around the use of the technology in public.
The report concludes with confidence that ‘leaders from both governments and industries will work together to govern our artificially intelligent future with foresight and empathy.’
