What is Artificial Intelligence?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer the stuff of sci-fi movies. Every day businesses are now using robots and computer programs to solve problems for them. In many cases, this can result in tasks being done much more quickly and accurately than were they done by humans, saving businesses time and money. AI can even be used to do tasks that humans would never manually be able to do such as sorting through masses of data made up of thousands to millions of files.

This is all done by creating an algorithm – a series of codes that allows robots and programs to make decisions by themselves. In some regards, it’s not really ‘intelligence’ as there are no real thoughts going on (thankfully, we’re still a long way from that)

When to use AI in business

There are lots of handy occasions in business to use artificial intelligence. It’s very useful in manufacturing where it can be used to mass-produce products accurately at speed, whilst also using sensors to help monitor and maintain machinery. This can save the need to hire manpower and improve overall quality. AI is also commonly used to calculate tax in accounting, to calculate risk in insurance, and spell-check/translate documents automatically in writing.

When NOT to use AI in business

Robots and programs still have zero emotional intelligence – whilst they can do most technical and repetitive tasks better than humans, they shouldn’t be used to having conversations with clients or coming up with creative marketing ideas. Some companies have tried using AI phone answering systems, which often just frustrate callers. Similarly, you won’t get far churning out automated emails and social media posts (scheduling is a good idea – but you’re better up coming up with the content yourself to give it that human sense of personality).