An AI Future is Coming: How Businesses and Investors are Capitalizing

The Latest Developments in Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence seems to excite and frighten businesses in equal measure. AI companies and their technology have developed rapidly in the past five years, and the technology is expected to disrupt most industries. When? The answer is unclear. But keeping up to date with new advancements, and preparing workers, business owners or VC investors, can help everyone take advantage of its potential.

Opportunities in AI

According to survey data from Accenture, 84% of C-suite executives believe that they must leverage AI in order to meet their growth objectives. How does AI do that? AI allows companies to automate tedious tasks, increase efficiency and accuracy, and to improve upon human decision making.

Industries are moving quickly to capitalize on the trend. By 2019, Gartner reported that 37% of organizations had implemented AI in some fort—a 270% increase over just four years.

The three areas most abuzz in the AI space, according to Capital Innovator’s data, are Deep Learning, Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing. In fact, those keywords seem to be all the rage right now.

So, what does it all mean? For starters:

• Machine Learning: A type of AI that allows computers to learn without being explicitly programmed. Learning happens through accessing data and using experience to improve future decision making.
• Deep Learning: A form of machine learning that imitates human thinking, processing and decision making. Deep learning AI learns without human supervision.
• Natural Language Processing: This subset of AI is focused on programming computers to process large amounts of human-produced text (input), or to output realistic and natural text.

 

It seems that every company attempts to implement AI in one way or another. However, it only works when actual value in the technology exists—and not just flashy verbiage.

The attractive use cases range from identifying diseases far earlier than current medical technology allows, to eliminating entertainment agents to source roles for emerging actors/actresses (and everything in between). It’s truly remarkable at the pace in which this technology develops.

Who Are the Big Winners?

The likely big winners in this space will be individuals who do more than just create the tech—the AI companies and developers; it will be those who also provide real, revenue generating businesses.

This will give venture capitalists the opportunity to increase investment in these companies. In 2019, Intel Capital invested more than $72 million into AI companies like Gamalon, which developed a machine learning technology to write and rewrite its own programs. With SoftBank also dedicating $28 billion of its $93 billion tech fund to AI, some of this technology may progress more rapidly than predicted. And this technology includes things like facial recognition, predictive analytics, vehicle automation and more.

I’d recommend keeping a close eye on the new use cases for AI to stay ahead of the curve in your profession.

AI Case Study: Semantix

One of Capital Innovators’ portfolio companies in the Artificial Intelligence space is the Natural Language Processing company called Semantix. Semantix is a San Francisco-based company that delivers solutions in risk-adjusted coding for healthcare.

Semantix’s core technology is a superior AI system that extracts information from text. This could provide value in the massive business data market. The traditional machine learning approach for knowledge extraction is extremely manual and requires individuals to label thousands of training examples.

Semantix combats machine learning through a unique, patented AI technique to read and understand the web. It builds a powerful knowledge base so it can answer direct questions for its users.

It’s an extremely complicated task for machines to read and truly understand people’s questions. Machines must decipher the text-based aspect of a query but also evaluate other scenarios and the intent of the question. This is no easy process, and I’m confident that Semantix will continue on their growth trajectory and create value for a plethora of industries with their tech and provide robust returns to investors.

You Don’t Need to Fear an AI Future

AI will provide one of the biggest shifts on the planet in the coming years. It will disrupt the job market in almost every industry—requiring workers to shift their skill sets and/or learn new skills (or risk being replaced).

This isn’t something that should be feared. Instead, we should embrace it. We’re on the cutting edge of an amazing new world where humans and technology interconnect even more and enjoy symbiosis. Society will take massive, and necessary, leaps in innovation and refocus on paving the way for a newer, better civilization.

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[Editor’s Note: To learn more about this and related topics, you may want to attend the following webinars: Best Practice Regarding Technology and Nuts & Bolts of Patents. This is an updated version of an article originally published on June 21, 2017.]

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