In the Age of Big Data, humans generate 2.5 quintillion bytes of data each day. Looking at data related to land surveying for construction, the lack of automated information processing makes the activity expensive and tedious, costing clients an average range of $10,000 to $20,000 for a two-month project. David Morczinek and Adam Kernowski established Airworks, a Cambridge, M.A.-based data analytics startup that automates the processing of 20 million points of data from drone images to help decision-makers at land development and construction make sense of their aerial data. They are playing a more significant role in a variety of commercial applications such as aerial filming and package delivery. The global management consulting firm, McKinsey & Company, estimates that the commercial drone industry will have an economic impact ranging from $31 to $46 billion on U.S. GDP.

AI technology is not just an experiment. Over the past year or so we've been engaged in an effort to tell the story of how large organizations are deploying artificial intelligence in their businesses. We were encouraged by the response to the 2018 NewVantage Partners executive survey, in which 93% of respondents said their organizations were investing in AI initiatives. Plenty of companies to write about, we thought. These were very large organizations spending goodly sums on AI and with a history of early adoption of other technologies. But when we approached many of these companies to discuss writing some case studies about their work, most of them demurred.

Robot-led automation has the potential to transform today's workplace as dramatically as the machines of the Industrial Revolution changed the factory floor. Both Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Intelligent Automation (IA) have the potential to make business processes smarter and more efficient, in very different ways. Both have significant advantages over traditional IT implementations. Robotic process automation tools are best suited for processes with repeatable, predictable interactions with IT applications. These processes typically lack the scale or value to warrant automation via IT transformation.

Today's organizations are upping their competitive game using various forms of machine intelligence. From chatbots and virtual assistants to robotics processing automation (RPA) and deep learning, businesses and entire industries are transforming the way they operate, although the results are mixed. Proceeding responsibly requires members of the C-suite to consider the potential opportunities, challenges and risks, including the impacts on people and processes. For example, McKinsey Global Institute recently analyzed more than 2,000 work activities across 800 occupations. It concluded that 30% of what 60% of all occupations do could be automated today.

The likes of Elon Musk and Bill Gates have made repeated doomsday warnings about artificial intelligence becoming more skilled at humans at just about everything. So it's little surprise that people are scared about a post-AI future where a mostly jobless population subsists on universal basic income while rich people own and operate all the robots. But a new report from consultancy firm PwC joins a growing chorus of more cautious economic forecasts that suggest the future is brighter than we might think. Looking at the UK, PwC found that it's true that robots will replace some jobs, especially in sectors like transport or manufacturing. AI will "displace" 38% of transport jobs, and 30% of manufacturing jobs, according to the report.

In a world where the technology is constantly changing and evolving Mohan Sekhar, senior managing director and lead at Accenture Advanced Technology Centres in India has said that it was time to move on from generals qualifications to expertise in niche subjects. Speaking to a leading daily, Sekhar emphasised how things in the tech sector are constantly changing and how Accenture was asking their employees to learn more about new sectors like artificial intelligence, analytics, data science, internet of things and blockchain, among others. "The generalist management cadre has got wiped out in Accenture in the last few years. We needed an innovation culture, subject matter experts. We told our people that they have to be closer to the tech and the industry domain."

Today's organizations are upping their competitive game using various forms of machine intelligence. From chatbots and virtual assistants to robotics processing automation (RPA) and deep learning, businesses and entire industries are transforming the way they operate, although the results are mixed. Proceeding responsibly requires members of the C-suite to consider the potential opportunities, challenges and risks, including the impacts on people and processes. For example, McKinsey Global Institute recently analyzed more than 2,000 work activities across 800 occupations. It concluded that 30% of what 60% of all occupations do could be automated today.

As cognitive technologies make further inroads into the enterprise, traditional talent strategies are shifting, and executives are pondering the ramifications of an increasingly automated workforce. According to Deloitte's 2018 Global Human Capital Trends report, 42 percent of surveyed executives expect AI may be widely deployed in the enterprise in the next three to five years. As such, there are questions about what a newly AI- and robotics-enabled workforce might look like, and how CIOs and other business executives might incorporate these new tools. MIT Technology Review's inaugural EmTech Next conference, held in June at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts, brought together more than 400 innovators, entrepreneurs, and business leaders to discuss emerging technologies in the workplace. Janet Foutty, chair and CEO of Deloitte Consulting LLP, and Erica Volini, principal and U.S. Human Capital Leader at Deloitte Consulting LLP, participated in a lively session on the future of work, a topic that slices across virtually all levels of the C-suite as leaders confront an ever-changing business, technology, and talent landscape.

Rabat – At a July 20 McKinsey & Company conference in Morocco, a presentation on artificial intelligence algorithms highlighted the powerful potential of digitizing sectors of Morocco's economy. The global management consulting firm, which specializes in digital transformation, hosted the conference "Potential of Digital and Artificial Intelligence (AI)" this past Friday. Casablanca Sector General Manager Jalil Bensouda and his associate Yassine Sekkat emphasized in their presentation the possibilities of dynamic digital incorporation in Morocco. "The 20th century Grail was oil. The 21st is the data," Bensouda declared.

The pace at which companies are investing in artificial intelligence (AI) continues to gain momentum and the financial sector is not immune to this trend. According to research by global management consultancy Accenture, banks that invest in AI and human-machine collaboration tools could boost their revenue by over a third (34 per cent) by 2022. AI is considered one of the most important disruptive technologies for today's banks, with a recent PwC survey revealing that 72 per cent of senior management see AI and machine learning (ML) as key sources of competitive advantage. The survey also highlighted that 52 per cent of companies in the financial services sector are already making substantial commitments to AI, with 66 per cent projecting significant investments by 2020. The finance sector has been using AI in very specific areas for some time, but we're now seeing a rapid growth in take-up due to increasing market competition, the need to reduce overheads and the benefits of harnessing increasing volumes of data. "Banks are experiencing massive competitive pressure from multiple organizations that don't carry the same technical debt in the form of legacy software," highlights Daniel Kroening, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Oxford.