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.

The solid line in the charts represents the net effect of AI, with the bars showing the displacement and income effects.Graphic via PricewaterhouseCoopers It's impossible to say precisely how artificial intelligence will disrupt the job market, so researchers at PwC have taken a bird's-eye view and pointed to the results of sweeping economic changes. Their prediction, in a new report out Tuesday, is that it will all balance out in the end. More automation in trucks, factories and elsewhere could cost around 7 million existing jobs in the U.K. by 2037. But the rise in robots and machine-learning software will make the country more productive over the next two decades, growing at a 2% annual clip, to put nearly the same number of jobs back in the system: 7.2 million, PwC estimates. To be clear, those new jobs won't involve building robots or coding AI-powered software, which will make up only around 5% of employment, says John Hawksworth, PwC's chief economist.

Commercially-applied AI has expanded in recent years, driven by a combination of computing power, the availability of huge datasets and advances in machine learning (which includes deep learning). While often used for predictive analytics, as well as image and speech classification, machine learning can be combined with elements of'traditional' AI such as natural language processing, strategic planning and logical reasoning to deliver powerful autonomous agents. So how prevalent is AI? Outside of large tech companies that have been utilising AI in service delivery for a number of years, much of the innovation is still in its infancy and is largely confined to the lab in the form of proof of concepts or R&D. The focus for business now has to be on creating an environment which fosters successful transition into real world value delivery.

Want to take your business to the next level by utilizing technology and win in the professional services industry? This digital transformation guide will help get you there. For many businesses that have been running a tried and tested method of operation, switching it up might be the last thing on their minds. After all, if it isn't broken don't fix it right? You couldn't be further from the truth. In the ever-changing world of technology, what is relevant right now could be obsolete by the time you wake up tomorrow. For this reason you need to keep your business on its toes, and be ready to face and embrace whatever technological changes and challenges come your way. Now before we jump into specific platforms for digital transformation, and put the proverbial "cart before the horse", it's crucial for us to dig deep into digital transformation and how it is impacting your business.

The research found that while AI could displace roughly seven million jobs in the country, it could also create 7.2 million roles, resulting in a modest net boost of around 200,000 jobs. It has also estimated that about 20 percent of jobs would be automated over the next 20 years and no sector would be unaffected. Technologies such as robotics, drones and driverless vehicles would replace human workers in some areas, but also create many additional jobs as productivity and real incomes rise and new and better products are developed. In the health and social work sector the number of people employed could rise by almost one million, while jobs in manufacturing could fall by roughly 25 percent, a net loss of almost 700,000 roles. "Major new technologies, from steam engines to computers, displace some existing jobs but also generate large productivity gains," PwC's Chief Economist John Hawksworth said in a press release.

LONDON (Reuters) - Artificial intelligence (AI) will become the primary way banks interact with their customers within the next three years, according to three quarters of bankers surveyed by consultancy Accenture (ACN.N) in a new report. Four in five bankers believe AI will "revolutionise" the way in which banks gather information as well as how they interact with their clients, said the Accenture Banking Technology Vision 2017 report, which surveyed more than 600 top bankers and also consulted tech industry experts and academics. Artificial intelligence -- the technology behind driverless cars, drones and voice-recognition software -- is seen by the financial world as a key technology which, along with other "fintech" innovations such as blockchain, will change the face of banking in the coming years. More than three quarters of respondents to the survey believed that AI would enable more simple user interfaces, which would help banks create a more human-like customer experience. "The big paradox here is that people think technology will lead to banking becoming more and more automated and less and less personalized, but what we've seen coming through here is the view that technology will actually help banking become a lot more personalized," said Alan McIntyre, head of the Accenture's banking practice and co-author of the report. "(It) will give people the impression that the bank knows them a lot better, and in many ways it will take banking back to the feeling that people had when there were more human interactions."

It's infinite potential waiting to be tapped. With cognitive capabilities--like artificial intelligence, image recognition, or deep learning--data can help you see in all directions and get to smarter, surer insights swiftly.

When Samantha Bowling first started serving on the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants' council, she noticed a frequent conversation topic: artificial intelligence. In a 2018 Burrus Research-Maryland Association of CPAs survey of more than 1,000 CPAs, respondents ranked AI, machine learning, and cognitive computing as the top technology trends that will influence the accounting and finance world over the next three years. AI is a collective term for computers that can simulate human behaviors, like decision making and learning. As a council member, Bowling saw that Big Four accounting firms were funneling cash into the technology, threatening to crush her 15-person CPA firm's audit practice. "I decided I was going to take out my Google machine last fall and say, 'there's got to be a solution for AI for small firms,'" Bowling told Bloomberg Tax in an interview.