The majority of the U.K.'s economic gains over the period to 2030 will come from increasing consumer demand thanks to AI driving a greater choice of products, increasing personalization and making them more affordable over time, PwC research published Wednesday shows. "While we expect that the nature of jobs will change and that some will be susceptible to automation, our research shows that the boost to U.K. GDP that AI-driven products and services will bring will also generate significant offsetting job gains," PwC economist Jonathan Gillham said. "Automating the more mundane and repetitive aspects of people's jobs will also increase the U.K.'s productivity and boost real wages." While Britain could see a 10 percent increase in gross domestic product through 2030, the nations likely to see the biggest upswings are China and North America, which will be boosted 26 percent and 14.5 percent, PwC said.

The real world and its digital twin are collaborating to bring forth something called "mass customisation", a new manufacturing culture which, as the term suggests, will be the basis for the most diverse ecosystem of engineered products ever seen. To understand and articulate some specifics about what's being called "the new frontier of manufacturing", one of the world's largest management consultancy firms, Deloitte, partnered with the Singularity University, a forum for technology futurists co-founded by Ray Kurzweil, to organise a conference called Exponential Manufacturing, featuring many thought leaders working in the industrial sector. The Singularity University says the idea of the event was to bring together the world's top experts in technology and manufacturing industries to help participants gain a deeper understanding of the core technologies reshaping manufacturing's future, including: While each item on the above list is a huge subject in and of itself, experts in the field of manufacturing and technology who took part in the Exponential Manufacturing seminar say they can all be summarised in certain ways, as explained in a video produced for the event (above). Peter Diamandis, co-founder and chairman of Singularity University, says: "The ability to go from intentionality – what's in your mind, what's in the consumer's mind – to actually having it right then and there, fast and cheap, is ultimately what all these technologies are converging to make happen." Often, all these diverse technologies – as they are applied to manufacturing and related sectors – are indirectly referenced in the catch-all term Industry 4.0, which itself refers to the idea that the world is going through the fourth industrial revolution.

At Booz Allen Hamilton, we're laying out a future where advancements in machine intelligence are shaped by a set of guiding principles borrowed from human subject research--beneficence, justice, and respect. We want to ensure that MI is beneficial, not harmful, to human welfare. This was the focus of our response to a request for information issued by the White House in June 2016 for the pros, cons and other implications of machine intelligence. We are calling for an approach where ethics are not simply tacked on at the end, but rather drive the U.S. approach to this experimental new technology. We see that with the work being done to drive technical development and research for our evolving machine intelligence capability, work that includes machine learning and deep learning, quantum computing and more.

Business leaders are asking: What impact will AI have on my organisation, and is our business model threatened by AI disruption? And as these leaders look to capitalise on AI opportunities, they're asking: Where should we target investment, and what kind of capabilities would enable us to perform better? Cutting across all these considerations is how to build AI in the responsible and transparent way needed to maintain the confidence of customers and wider stakeholders. These are the strategic questions we'll be addressing in a series of reports designed to help enterprises create a clear and compelling business case for AI investment and development. While there's been a lot of research on the impact of automation, it's only part of the story.

Artificial intelligence is playing a more significant role in business than ever before. A recent survey by professional services firm PwC found that 72 percent of executives believe that AI will offer sizeable business advantages in the near future.[1] Businesses are already exploring these advantages. Last October, Uber completed the world's first cargo shipment using a truck controlled by AI. [2] One area in which AI will benefit businesses across all sectors is in human resources and recruitment. Human bias can influence many aspects of recruitment: Humans tend to stereotype and make uninformed choices based on gender, ethnicity and so on.

According to a new report by consultancy firm Accenture, corporate profitability is in decline across most industries in the United States – and is also impacting investment and output in public services. After reaching their highest share of national income in the post-war era, the growth of profits dropped from 25 percent in 2010 to -3 percent in 2015, the report states. It is not a rosy picture for the future if things carry on as they are. Indeed, the current data do not suggest an environment conducive to growth. Business investment is already close to stalling. For instance, in manufacturing business investment growth has declined from 14.8 percent in 2012 to -5.2 percent in 2016 in the United States and from 5.9 percent in 2012 to -6.6 percent in 2016 in the United Kingdom .

Businesses that successfully apply artificial intelligence (AI) could increase profitability by an average of 38 percent by 2035, according to a new report from Accenture (NYSE: ACN).

DALIAN, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)--New research from Accenture (NYSE:ACN) reveals that artificial intelligence (AI) could accelerate China's economic growth rate from 6.3 percent to 7.9 percent by 2035, by transforming the nature of work and opening new sources of value and growth. The report, titled "How Artificial Intelligence Can Drive China's Growth," explores new insights into AI and its impact on China's economy. Based on analysis and modeling by Accenture Research, in collaboration with Frontier Economics, there is dramatic impact on China's growth when AI is added as a completely new factor of production to the economic growth model. "China has already made great leaps in the development of AI and our research shows that it has the potential to be a powerful remedy for slowing growth," said Chuan Neo Chong, Accenture Greater China Chairwoman. "However, as with any catalyst, it is important to remember the challenges and the risk of unintended consequences. Stakeholders must prepare themselves intellectually, technologically, politically, ethically and socially for the promise of AI."

New research from Accenture (NYSE:ACN) reveals that artificial intelligence (AI) could accelerate China's economic growth rate from 6.3 percent to 7.9 percent by 2035, by transforming the nature of work and opening new sources of value and growth. This Smart News Release features multimedia. AI is poised to boost China's GVA by USD $7,111 billion by 2035 (Graphic: Business Wire) The report, titled "How Artificial Intelligence Can Drive China's Growth," explores new insights into AI and its impact on China's economy. Based on analysis and modeling by Accenture Research, in collaboration with Frontier Economics, there is dramatic impact on China's growth when AI is added as a completely new factor of production to the economic growth model. "China has already made great leaps in the development of AI and our research shows that it has the potential to be a powerful remedy for slowing growth," said Chuan Neo Chong, Accenture Greater China Chairwoman.

This collection explores the impact of cognitive technologies on organizations and helps leaders make wise strategy and technology choices. Because cognitive technologies extend the power of information technology to tasks traditionally performed by humans, they can enable organizations to break prevailing trade-offs between speed, cost, and quality.