Big Ideas in AI

This is the decade to be alive. We’re going to see massive shifts in our lives, from the way we work to the way nature, supply chains, and every other process imaginable works. The AI wave is coming, like it or not, and here’s how:

Transportation

Modern driving, shipping, and flying requires drivers, navigation, coordination, and logistics. AI takes care of many of these hassles, reducing the need for humans — both in commercial shipping, as well as personal transport.

These specific technologies make this possible:

Autonomy

Self-driving technology, pioneered by companies like Tesla, Waymo, and Cruise, will enable safer, more efficient, and more cost effective transportation processes. For consumers, it means more relaxed commutes and faster and cheaper goods.

Fleet Mobility

Getting from Point A to Point B, itself, will become more manageable. Services like Uber, fueled with self-driving technology, will become even cheaper, more efficient, and faster. Not to mention, electric scooter fleets will find better footing as “transportation-sharing” and “the new wave of transportation” catches hold.

Flight (UAVs)

AI poses exciting opportunity for the air, space, and drone industries. Automated plane travel, smarter rockets, and self-flying drones will improve the exchange of goods and ease of extraplanetary scientific discovery.

Health

The pandemic exposed massive detriments in our healthcare system, as well as ways we can improve its efficiency, accuracy, and impact. We’re excited for the many new innovations that will better the way we monitor, treat, and support health:

Diagnosis & Detection

AI has the potential to diagnose and detect a variety of different diseases. For example, in a study done by Babylon Health and University College London, an AI algorithm had a 77.26% accuracy compared to doctors’ 71.40% accuracy at diagnosing written cases of illnesses. According to the study, the AI learned to be more creative and consider a wider range of possibilities, compared to the standard patterns of thinking used by most human doctors. This was especially prevalent in more complicated cases, where the accuracy gap was even wider.

Computer vision has, in recent years, garnered attention due to its ability to assess medical images (CTs, MRIs, X-rays) and detect illnesses and cancers. For example, Jin et al. developed an AI system to detect COVID-19 from chest CT scans.

Wearables

Devices to better track health are an interesting opportunity for the healthcare system, as well as for personal health. In the hospital, AI-enabled wearable devices can be used for patient monitoring, allowing for more remote patient interactions and thus cheaper hospital visits.

In addition, consumer-centric products like Apple Watch seek to monitor and improve our health: detecting falls, monitoring our exercise, and taking ECGs.

Healthcare Automation

Digitalized health records, automated medical transcription, and medical research can all be improved through automation. Last year, Google released AI tools to enable doctors to quickly and accurately review patient’s health records. And, quite notably, Moderna used AI algorithms to quicken the COVID-19 vaccine development process.

Data

AI is data-centric. And the products that can best harness data will be the most effective at generating value.

Solving Problems

Palantir stands out as a one-of-a-kind leader in the data space. Their systems use AI to analyze massive amounts of siloed data points and make intuitions to better improve efficiency and solve problems. For example, Palantir Foundry takes thousands of siloed data sources to visualize and detect risks in the supply chain. You can imagine how much data is involved — supply chains span countries and involve countless actors, yet Foundry’s systems handle and unify this data with ease, using the power of AI.

Your Data

Classic data collectors like Facebook will continue to track your moves, garnering more insights and information about your spending habits, likes, and interests. For example, TikTok’s AI recommendation algorithm draws viewers in by understanding what sorts of content they like.

Overall, we’re looking forward to the AI-driven future. To be sure, many issues, ethics, and technical barriers will need to be surpassed. But with the right sorts of people and the proper governance, AI can and will greatly improve humanity.