This year's Data Science Bowl focus Anyone who is plugged into the tech world knows that AI and big data is big business right now. Our technological ability to process and analyze large troves of data grows every year, unlocking new doors at every turn. Big data and AI is big business, but it's also key to solving some of the world's biggest problems. One of the areas where this progress is especially exciting is in medical research--where once it took a pair of human eyes to sort through millions of cell images, we now have AI which can perform the same analyses by many orders of magnitude faster. With this in mind, Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation, best known as Booz Allen, widely-renowned management and consulting and IT firm, and Kaggle, the world's largest online data science community, announced today the fourth annual Data Science Bowl.

The promise of AI and other cognitive technologies is enticing companies to take on aggressive new initiatives. Authors Davenport and Ronanki share how to apply cognitive technologies from robotics to deep learning in bold new ways, based on their study of 152 cognitive projects and the results of Deloitte's 2017 state of cognitive survey. Taking an incremental approach--rather than a transformative approach--helps organizations avoid potential setbacks. In fact, "low-hanging fruit" projects that streamline business processes and augment, rather than replace, human capabilities are much more likely to be successful than the most highly ambitious projects. Here, you'll see how organizations are improving products and creating new ones, making better decisions, and freeing up workers to be more creative using cognitive technologies.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is remarkably complex and advancing quickly. It's impossible for anyone to give a precise vision of how the next several years will unfold. But it is possible to make specific predictions about AI trends for the next year, then share key implications for business, government, and society. Many of these nascent trends are already underway. We've made eight such predictions--based on insights from AI visionaries, as well as what PwC leaders see as they advise clients around the world who are putting AI to work in their own organizations.

The impact of machine learning applications – from machine vision to voice recognition – will be massively enhanced via the deployment of 800,000 machine learning centric chips in data centres this year – roughly quadruple the volume in 2016. And one billion smartphone users will create augmented reality (AR) content in 2018 globally, with half of UK smartphone users doing so. The findings stand out in Deloitte UK's TMT Predictions 2018 report, from its technology-focused practice, published today. A surge in deployment of FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays) and ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits) - will be a core driver in the use of machine learning. FPGAs and ASICs will represent between a quarter and a third of all machine learning chips deployed this year.

VoLTE is expected to be the most prevalent voice technology in the future. It is also estimated that more than 90 percent of all mobile subscribers will comprise of broadband subscribers by 2023, according to a Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP report. OTT platforms are witnessing an explosion in original content due to increase in consumption and viewership, the report says, adding that they will gradually become a preferred medium over television, with the consumers of vernacular content likely to become over 2.5 times that of English language content by 2021, it said. The publication highlights the fact that'Machine Learning' will intensify among medium and large-sized enterprises. Compared to 2017, the number of implementations and pilot projects using machine learning technology is likely to double in 2018 and then doubling again in 2020.

A lot of modern-day technology and applications rely on artificial intelligence and even then, it is probably just the beginning. A survey conducted by Deloitte in 16 developed markets (not including India), reveals that 65 percent of smartphone users have used an application featuring machine learning in the past. Most of them are personalised features assisting us in day to day life like predictive texts, route suggestions, voice to text, etc. Unsurprisingly, the most common AI tool that smartphone owners have experienced is predictive texts. At least half the respondents included in the survey affirmed their awareness of the tool and more than one-third of them claimed to have used it despite its notoriety for botching up messages. Route suggestions while using online maps such as Here maps or Google Maps is the second-most familiar AI tool that people have experienced.

This year's Data Science Bowl focus Anyone who is plugged into the tech world knows that AI and big data is big business right now. Our technological ability to process and analyze large troves of data grows every year, unlocking new doors at every turn. Big data and AI is big business, but it's also key to solving some of the world's biggest problems. One of the areas where this progress is especially exciting is in medical research--where once it took a pair of human eyes to sort through millions of cell images, we now have AI which can perform the same analyses by many orders of magnitude faster. With this in mind, Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation, best known as Booz Allen, widely-renowned management and consulting and IT firm, and Kaggle, the world's largest online data science commmunity, announced today the fourth annual Data Science Bowl.

Recently, I talked with the forward-thinkers and machine learning scientists at the AI Summit in San Francisco. How to connect the power of AI to the enterprise is an open question facing all of us, experts and those connecting the experts with business problems. There are so many possible applications, and everyone is trying to get in on the game. At PwC, we estimate AI will drive global GDP gains of $15 trillion by 2030, but companies are all over the map. In our survey of CEOs, 24% reported they were already using AI, and 21% said AI was a priority, but the rest said they were only aware of or evaluating AI.

Global consulting firm Accenture notes that stand-alone, AI-powered digital voice assistant devices are being used "for a range of consumer services such as playing music, turning the heat and lights on and off, and providing news, weather and sports scores." That's to be expected, of course - that's what they're for - but in an online survey of 21,000 consumers in 19 countries, Accenture discovered that digital virtual assistants are becoming "the central hub for home activities in Australia." Again, that's the whole point of digital assistants - they're meant to be the hub of your digital home, not just answering questions but helping you control your other connected devices, but naturally, it's always good to see this being confirmed by actual users. In addition, "three quarters (75%) of these owners said they use their smartphones less for entertainment, more than two thirds use them less for online purchasing and more than half for general information searches (71% and 55%, respectively)." David Sovie, global MD of Accenture's High Tech business said: "Digital voice assistant devices are challenging smartphones as the central hub for all activities in the home. "These low-cost devices deliver valuable and practical benefits and are relatively easy to use, and their rapidly growing popularity is one of the most striking trends in the high-tech industry." Accenture tells us its survey shows that "ownership levels of digital voice assistant devices in Australia are projected to increase more than five times this year, reaching 23% by the end of 2018 from 4% in 2017.

For the people most immersed in the tech sector, it's hard to think of a more controversial topic than the ultimate impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on society. By eventually empowering machines with a level of superintelligence, there are many different possible outcomes ranging from Kurzweil's technological singularity to the more dire predictions popularized by Elon Musk. Despite this wide gap in potential outcomes, most technologists do agree on one thing: AI will have a profound impact on the society and the way we do business. Today's infographic comes from the Extraordinary Future 2017, a new conference in Vancouver, BC that focuses on emerging technologies such as AI, autonomous vehicles, fintech, and blockchain tech. In the below infographic, we look recent projections from PwC and Accenture regarding AI's economic impact, as well as the industries and countries that will be the most profoundly affected.