It's widely believed that AI's potential has only reached the Commodore 64 stage. In other words, the best is yet to come.
As the technology gains momentum, innovation is flourishing, with new applications seemingly limited to only its users' imagination. Consider the following five examples that show how AI will continue to surprise and transform both personal and business activities.
1. Personalized teaching
AI can augment and accelerate the way individuals acquire knowledge and skills by fine-tuning educational experiences to the specific needs, learning styles, and multiple intelligences of each learner, says Paul McDonagh-Smith, senior lecturer of IT at MIT's Sloan School of Management, via an email interview. "AI can employ advanced algorithms to customize educational content and feedback based on a student's unique profile and progress, leading to better educational outcomes," he explains. "This innovative application of AI has the potential to revolutionize education by making it more tailored, engaging, and accessible to learners of all backgrounds and abilities."
2. Idea generation
AI systems like GPT-3 can generate novel concepts and suggestions by analyzing large amounts of text data. "This can help spark new ideas for products, services, and business models that humans may not have thought of on their own," says Scott Lard, general manager and partner at IS&T, an information systems technology search and contingency staffing firm, via email.
What makes this approach useful is that AI systems can consider far more possibilities and variations than a single human mind, Lard explains. "By analyzing thousands of existing ideas, it can provide fresh perspectives and out-of-the-box thinking that helps organizations innovate."
Lard suggests the best way to get started with AI-enabled idea generation is to simply ask an AI model open-ended questions about potential new ideas and concepts within a specific industry or focus area. Give the AI system as much relevant context as possible to narrow the results, he advises. Then review the generated ideas to see which offer the most potential to explore further. "You can then iterate the process by refining your questions and context to produce even better results over time."
