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In 1980, The Alan Parsons Project sang the opening line of one of their biggest hit songs, “Where do we go from here, now that all of the children have grown up?”
This line seems especially appropriate when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI). Where do we go from here now that AI has grown up?
The novelty surrounding the technology is transitioning to a more mature phase in its development. There are many examples of this accelerating maturity as, by and large, companies are now taking a more tactical approach to AI. (Also read: Predictive Maintenance: Ensuring Business Continuity with AI.)
Rather than implementing it because they think they have to, individual business units are figuring out how AI can help them achieve specific business objectives. The general public, whose perception of AI in the past has been largely influenced by Hollywood, is now witnessing the value that AI brings into their daily lives.
Everything seems pointing to AI playing a prominent role in the events that will shape 2023.
Below are five predictions for AI in 2023, direct from the experts:
1. AI is Entering a New Evolutionary Phase
According to Michael Downs, CTO of Evolving Solutions, 2023 is the start of the next evolutionary phase of AIOps.
Tp use a baseball game analogy, we are now coming up to bat at the top of the fourth inning. The next three innings are about developing the AI engine further.
When it comes to AI for IT operations, Downs says, “Organizations are floundering for insights into our environments.” As a result, every major player in the IT operations industry is going to have an AIOps solution.
The human-monitored dashboard IT teams traditionally relied on is insufficient to manage today’s hybrid enterprises’ complex and dynamic nature. Network uptime is no longer an adequate way to judge a network’s effectiveness. Today, it’s about optimizing the digital experience for customers, employees and partners. It’s also evident that human monitoring and intervention can no longer provide the necessary security to protect our digitally transformed organizations. (Also read: AI in Cybersecurity: The Future of Hacking is Here.)
The key is for AIOps to be able to separate the relevant information from all the noise. This is where development is to be concentrated. Downs predicts that economic conditions will put greater pressure on budgets, which will further stimulate the necessity to automate.
2. AI Will Generate Great Contention in School Systems
The pandemic greatly accelerated the transition to one-to-one programs for K12 institutions. Many schools systems can boast that 100% of their students have access to a computing device.
While this triumphant landmark does achieve equity of access for all students, it has also opened Pandora’s box, exposing students to global technology trends that are far outpacing the ability of school systems to catch up. Last year, a Georgia school district went to considerable effort to block Grammarly, an AI-driven software application that uses machine learning along with natural language processing to suggest proper grammar usage.
The school system blocked it to prevent students from “cheating.” For school administrators that thought Grammarly was unsettling, the launch of ChatGPT is a disruptive buster bomb. Some of the largest school districts in the country, including New York City, Seattle and Los Angeles, have blocked it, while other school districts are leaving it open for now.
Educators are feeling threatened, but banning Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT that can generate novel content is not the answer. Banning its access on school devices will only give those students with access to their own personal devices a distinct advantage, thus furthering the equity gap amongst students of different economic classes.Denying students to revolutionary technology that is changing the world will not do them any favors.
ChatGPT is just the beginning, however. Virtual reality learning will become more prominent in 2023 as well, and evidence shows that learners on average feel 40% more confident when studying using VR compared to classroom training.
But how will school districts with limited budgets afford such technology? It took many years to get a computer in the hands of every student. School districts will be undergoing a self-actualization internally about the role that AI technology will play in 2023. (Also read: The Top Ways to Use AI in Education.)
3. A Greater Focus on Responsible AI
It’s important to remember that much of the data AI analyzes is derived from the human consciousness, which means it is contains cognitive biases that plagues decision-making.
For instance, an AI-driven HR application may discern that males make better employees for a given position because that job role is already dominated by males. It’s these subtleties that data scientists must perfect to ensure that AI decisions making is void of biasness. Nicole Janssen, co-founder and co-CEO of AltaML, has worked closely with the Reponsible Artificial Intelligence Institute and says the potential negative business impacts of not adapting responsible and ethical AI practices are massive.
Responsible AI (RAI) has transitioned from a “nice-to-have” to a “must-have” for any organization that uses AI. Janssen predicts that more AI-certifying organizations will come to fruition this year and that methodologies will be established in 2023 to confirm RAI compliance. She also sees greater government initiative to regulate AI to ensure its responsible use.
A big problem according to Janssen, is that jurisdictions around the world are currently working in silos, making it nearly impossible for companies to operate and comply with all of them. She sees governments working more cooperatively together to create a more universal standard. (Also read: Data Silos: What They Are and How to Deal With Them.)
4. Leaders Will Start to Emerge in 2023
We can all see the seismic advantage Amazon’s use of AI has allotted them.
Amazon knows their customer base so well thanks to AI; the joke is that Amazon knows what their customers want better than they do. Google’s ability to create the best search algorithm provides them a near monopoly when it comes to search engines.
In 2023, we will begin to see certain AI providers separate themselves from the pack. According to Michael Downs, less money will be going into venture capital in 2023 so existing players will have a real advantage. Expect greater consolidation and mergers amongst AI solution providers.
5. The Promise of Autonomous Vehicles Begins to Come to Fruition
In 2019, Gartner predicted there would be 745,705 autonomous vehicles on the road by 2023. It seems like every year; we hear about the promise of drone delivery and autonomous taxis.
Dare I say that 2023 is the year that autonomous taxis become more than just a novelty? Too much capital has been invested in autonomous vehicle technology over recent years. An autonomous taxi service was unveiled in 2022 across San Francisco and companies have plans on implementing them to other cities in 2023. (Also read: The Future of Remote Work: 7 Technologies to Watch.)
Conclusion: Something Big is Coming
Thanks to the decreasing cost of computing power, Janssen says the ability to use AI technology is no longer restricted to the largest corporations. Getting AI technology into more people’s hands will only spur greater innovation and carry us places we haven’t even imagined yet.
It’s safe to say that something big is going to come along in 2023 that we don’t see coming at all. We just don’t know what it is.
