ARTIFICIAL intelligence is being used across almost every industry, from finance and healthcare to retail to travel. Yet many companies lack an understanding of how to fully utilize AI technology to grow revenue and create exceptional customer experience. Expectations of how AI can improve business performance are "sky-high" according to a report released by MIT Sloan Management Review and The Boston Consulting Group. The survey polled 3,000 business executives, managers and analysts in 112 countries and 21 industries, with results finding 84 percent believe AI will allow their companies to gain or sustain a competitive advantage. However, 36 percent of those polled admitted to having very little understanding of AI at all. The survey also revealed that fewer than 39 percent of all companies who intend to use AI to enhance business growth have an AI strategy in place.

If you've been seeing the word "cognitive" a lot lately, you're not alone. And if you're confused about exactly what it means from an IT and business perspective, you're not alone in that either. To help provide some clarity around the cognitive concept and what it might mean for your organization, I've put together this primer. Cognitive computing uses technology and algorithms to automatically extract concepts and relationships from data, understand their meaning, and learn independently from data patterns and prior experience--extending what people or machines could do on their own, says Paul Roma, chief analytics officer at consulting firm Deloitte Consulting. Deloitte refers to cognitive computing as "more encompassing than the traditional, narrow view of AI [artificial intelligence]," Roma says.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Accenture (NYSE:ACN) has joined the Partnership on AI, a prestigious alliance of businesses, researchers, academics and policy makers that work to advance the understanding of artificial intelligence (AI) technology and develop best practices on the challenges and opportunities within the field. Accenture joins other prominent industry leaders who share its commitment to advancing the field of AI so that it benefits people and society. Accenture will actively contribute its own insights, research and capabilities in areas including Responsible AI, and will dedicate people and resources to collaborate with Partnership on AI members to help address important global challenges such as food, diversity, inclusion, health, education and economic opportunity. "We are thrilled to join the Partnership on AI. We believe businesses, governments and academia have a critical role in co-innovating and applying AI to invent new educational, workforce and business models that are both responsible and responsive to the needs of people and society. It's up to us to ensure AI can truly be a force for public good," said Paul Daugherty, Accenture's chief technology & innovation officer.

Dr Matthew Howard is a director of AI at Deloitte in the UK. In his role, Matthew looks at how AI technology can benefit clients in the professional services space and within Deloitte's own business. In this blog, he outlines the opportunities and challenges facing professional services in implementing AI. Hear him speak at the'The big Alternative AI debate: Will the partnership model kill AI? Or will AI kill the partnership model?" at 4:45pm on 27 November at the Alternative AI event. AI is a broad umbrella that will impact a broad range of processes and industries – everything from language translation to medical advice. In an industry that relies on understanding vast amounts of data every day, AI can offer significant productivity benefits to professional services firms. Being able to correlate that data and make it meaningful – fast – is one of the most attractive advantages of AI. This is especially true as information analysis becomes increasingly commoditised and firms have ...

Booz Allen Hamilton has been at the forefront of strategy and technology for more than 100 years Today, the firm provides management and technology consulting and engineering services to leading Fortune 500 corporations, governments, and not-for-profits across the globe. Booz Allen partners with public and private sector clients to solve their most difficult challenges through a combination of consulting, analytics, mission operations, technology, systems delivery, cybersecurity, engineering and innovation expertise. Work as a key researcher and R&D engineer on a growing team of elite scientists who investigate and solve challenging, data fusion problems. Use R&D experience to develop and implement biometric and data fusion techniques through algorithm and software or script development, and the use of existing data fusion tools. Collaborate with experienced subject-matter experts and technical or project managers to develop cutting edge technology to fill data fusion capability gaps that can withstand rigorous scientific validation.

A study from Redwood Software and Sapio Research released October 4th revealed that IT leaders believe automation could impact 60% of businesses by 2022 and threaten jobs in the process. Now, a new, separate report from PwC, the second biggest professional services firm worldwide, suggests a similar timeline; one in which people may need to practice and learn new skills -- or be left behind as automation takes over. The report, titled Workforce of the Future, surveyed 10,000 people across China, India, Germany, the UK, and the U.S. to "better understand the future of work." Of those, nearly 37% think artificial intelligence and robotics will put their jobs at risk; in 2014, 33% had a similar concern. A startling scenario the report envisions for the future is one in which "typical" jobs -- jobs people can steadily advance in through promotions -- no longer exist, prompting the aforementioned move to develop new skills.

If you're concerned (or super excited) about machine learning (ML) becoming mainstream, a recent survey by Oxford Economics on behalf of human resources (HR) and IT asset management company ServiceNow should pique your interest. The report, which surveyed 500 Chief Information Officers (CIOs) in 11 countries and across 25 industries, found that 49 percent of the companies are already using ML to improve traditional business processes. Of the 500 CIOs surveyed, 200 said they're already beyond the pilot stage and have begun deploying ML in some capacity. CIOs are hoping to limit user error and errors in judgement by introducing automation. Almost 70 percent of CIOs said decisions made by machines will be more accurate than those made by humans.

Bias is everywhere, including in your data. A little skew here and there may be fine if the ramifications are minimal, but bias can negatively affect your company and its customers if left unchecked, so you should make an effort to understand how, where and why it happens. "Many [business leaders] trust the technical experts but I would argue that they're ultimately responsible if one of these models has unexpected results or causes harm to people's lives in some way," said Steve Mills, a principal and director of machine intelligence at technology and management consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton. In the financial industry, for example, biased data may cause results that offend the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (fair lending). That law, enacted in 1974, prohibits credit discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age or source of income.

The casualties of automation are on the rise, but it's not bad news for everyone. Nearly one third (700,000) of low-skilled workers in India's IT sector could lose their jobs by 2022 due to an uptick in the adoption of robotics and artificial intelligence. But those in medium- and high-skilled jobs stand to gain from the trend, a recent report (paywall) by market analysis firm HfS Research said. In the next five years, the number of medium-skilled IT employees is estimated to rise to 1 million from 900,000 while the number of high-skilled employees will jump to over half a million from 320,000, according to the report. With technological advancements, "the productivity of higher-skill workers, especially those engaged in abstract thinking, or with creative and problem-solving skills, has increased," a January 2017 report by management consultancy McKinsey & Company explained. As a result, they're more likely to be in demand in the coming years.

Accenture sits in a unique meta category of firms that both develops its own AI roadmap and also advises clients on AI strategies. Its fear of losing business through technological disruption is largely mitigated by clients' increasing demand for advisory services in technology adoption. As Daugherty explains, "unless you believe we're near the end of demand for technology and business transformation services, the laws of supply and demand come into play. Using AI to reduce the price of implementing a solution saves money for the client which they can in turn reinvest to meet still more needs." Thus, the advisory business grows as technology becomes more advanced and clients require even more support.