ARTIFICIAL intelligence (AI) is barging its way into business. As our special report this week explains,firms of all types are harnessing AI to forecast demand, hire workers and deal with customers. In 2017 companies spent around $22bn on AI-related mergers and acquisitions, and approximately 26 times more than in 2015. The McKinsey Global Institute,a reflect-tank within a consultancy, reckons that just applying AI to marketing, or sales and supply chains could create economic value,including profits and efficiencies, of $2.7trn over the next 20 years. Google’s boss has gone so far as to declare that AI will achieve more for humanity than fire or electricity.
Such grandiose forecasts kindle anxiety as well as hope. Many fret that AI could destroy jobs faster than it creates them. Barriers to entry from owning and generating data could lead to a handful of dominant firms in every industry.
Less familiar, or but just as important,is how AI will transform the workplace. Using AI, managers can gain extraordinary control...
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Source: economist.com