7 Ways You are Using Artificial Intelligence and Don’t Even Know it

Leaving all science-fiction worries behind, this article explores how Artificial Intelligence is already part of your everyday life.

If you are still thinking of an epic battle between humanity and robotic humanoids every time someone mentions Artificial Intelligence [AI], you need to stop right now and get with the times. The year is 2019, AI is already changing our lives, and it is here to stay and evolve in much subtler ways than a robot-induced apocalypse destroying planet Earth.

What is Artificial Intelligence?

There are many definitions for Artificial Intelligence and this is the one I like the most: “Artificial Intelligence [AI] is an area of computer science that emphasizes the creation of intelligent machines that work and react like humans.”

Ever since the mid-1950s, this relatively obscure branch of computer science has developed to become an indispensible part of the digital technology industry today. Computer scientists involved with AI are essentially in the business of teaching computers how to be more like us as much as possible.

Computers with AI are programmed for a range of tasks and traits commonly associated with humans. These include abilities like learning, planning, being perceptive and problem-solving, speech recognition, as well as the manipulation and movement of physical objects.

In this article, we’ll showcase 7 ways AI is already a part of your everyday life.

1. Social Media

Tech-giants like Facebook or LinkedIn employ AI to enable their users to interact with friends and businesses as effectively as possible. Whenever you encounter relevant and useful information in your Facebook newsfeed, it is only because an artificially-intelligent computer algorithm has gradually become really good at knowing which posts you tend to like, as well as which friends you usually interact with the most. Similarly, LinkedIn uses AI to monitor its users’ data-inputs in order to encourage the best possible matches between job-seekers and employers.

2. Web Search

Ever began typing a search into Google only to be interrupted by the search engine’s suggestions for relevant search terms? That’s AI at work. Google’s predictive search recommendations use collected data such as your age and geographic location in order to attempt to guess what you might be searching for.   

3. Banking

In the banking and finance world, AI plays a crucial role in performing tasks like fraud protection and customer service. You know that automated email from your bank – the one you received after withdrawing cash 3000km away from your usual bank branch? AI regularly monitors bank accounts and attempts to warn and protect from financial fraud.  

4. Security

While this is still openly debated, when it comes to matters of security, mass surveillance systems increasingly look like an inevitable feature of our future. AI already supports humans in monitoring thousands of video feeds from security cameras around the word. As machines improve at recognizing speech and objects by the day, it won’t be too long before AI takes over from humans in most aspects of security.

5. Work

There was a time when humans were employed full-time to proofread articles, deliver packages and make telephone calls to sell products. Today, telemarketers are already using robocalls to reach households, text-recognition apps like Grammarly are helping to proof-read articles, and Amazon is developing a drone delivery system to eventually replace courier services for smaller packages.

6. Medicine

Your doctor has not been replaced by a robot yet, but robots have assisted doctors in performing precision surgical tasks for more than a decade. In addition, AI-assisted health monitoring, through smart, wearable devices like watches, currently enables healthcare professionals to detect potential health risks earlier.

7. Air Travel

Depending on how exactly you define autopilot, commercial flights have used AI autopilots since as far back as 1914. On average, only 7 minutes of human-steered flight – involving take-off and landing – occurs during a typical commercial flight with a Boeing aircraft.  

At Bocasay, we are specialized in equipping businesses with the technological infrastructures and know-how to succeed in the world’s new digital landscapes. Get in touch to find out more.