There is no doubt that the need for companies to get serious about digitally transforming their business and production processes is critical to maintaining their competitive edge. The customer is driving the need to be able to get to market faster with products that are competitively priced with the features and capabilities they demand. Artificial intelligence (AI) is at the core of being able to realise success. The results of a Gartner global survey of over 3,000 CIO's confirms the importance of AI focused initiatives. Compared to a baseline established in 2015, this decision to implement AI is up 10%.

The majority of CFOs are increasing investment in their companies' efforts to spur change through new technology, according to a new survey. The survey of more than 300 CFOs and financial leaders by Grant Thornton and CFO Research found that 69 percent plan to increase their investment in technologies that speed business change. In addition, four out of 10 of the financial leaders polled plan an increase of more than 10 percent in the next 12 months. Competition is the main factor behind the spending, with 41 percent of the survey respondents saying their companies' digital-transformation investments are intended to help them overtake their competition through differentiation. "While investment strategies for digital transformation have traditionally been influenced by an organization's desire to improve operational performance and reduce costs, respondents have shown that future investment strategies will shift to more strategic opportunities – chief among these being improving the customer experience," said Srikant Sastry, national managing principal of advisory services at Grant Thornton, in a statement.

McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm that helps organizations make significant and lasting improvements to their organizational performance, estimates that AI can automate as much as 45 percent or more of any particular job, allowing workers to focus on higher level, mission-critical activities. Preez provides two examples of this already in use: 1. AI-driven natural language interfaces make interacting with applications much easier and speeds up many individual steps within a process. "For example, natural language processing can allow doctors to dictate clinical notes into a device, which then automatically populates appropriate forms, lab orders and prescriptions. Or it can summarize long blocks of text from medical journal articles or studies by identifying key concepts and phrases," Preez explains. The second example he mentions is the utilization of machine learning, which is a component of AI.

Organizations considering reinventing worker roles are increasingly employing intelligent automation solutions to create a hybrid workforce.

NEW YORK, NY – Duff & Phelps, the premiere global valuation and corporate finance advisor, has selected eBrevia's award-winning artificial intelligence technology to deploy throughout the enterprise for faster contract review. Duff & Phelps has already been using the software for large-scale contract review projects to augment its professionals' expertise and bring increased value to clients more quickly. The firm will continue to leverage the software for a variety of use cases as it advises clients on a range of strategic and complex business challenges. Duff & Phelps has been increasing its presence in the contract management space from two perspectives: legal management consulting and post-acquisition integration. As a legal management consultant, Duff & Phelps advises clients on selection and implementation of contract lifecycle management systems.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is here to stay and there is no turning back in the march of this technology as many devices and services are already integrated with this advanced computing power. Globally, businesses and government are exploring how AI can be used to enhance their services, and India is also not far behind in adopting the advanced practices. The advent of handsets with internet connection is one of the key factors enabling technology to make deep inroads in India. Aadhaar is a classic example of AI technology with biometric recognition being one of the key facets of its application. PwC India in its recent survey report titled "Artificial Intelligence--Hype or Reality" found that 60% of respondents believe that AI will enable people to live richer lives and further socio-economic causes such as economic growth, health and education and cybersecurity. Sudipta Ghosh, partner and leader, Data and Analytics, PwC India said, "Indian businesses, the government and individuals have, in recent years, also seen multiple use cases of AI in various facets of life.

Accessing #MWC18 could be as easy as looking in the mirror. PwC US and MEXIA One are attending GSMA's Mobile World Congress 2018 and will be conducting a demo of facial recognition technology. This is an exciting new technology with many industry uses; see one application at the event entrance. This year, eligible attendees can opt in to be part of the demo using "biometrics"--validated facial recognition via a face scan compared to a profile picture (clear, forward-facing head shot)--to access the event in addition to using their badge. For attendees who opt into the demo, biometric token data will be destroyed following MWC.

If you're just tuning in to this series, here's a brief recap of what we've discussed so far: Insurance is ripe for disruption, and insurers must balance two measures in order to respond. They need to get the Brilliant Basics right, and they need to innovate with Cutting New Ground initiatives. Both are necessary, as Brilliant Basics enables core transformation, which in turn frees up investment capital and enables the agility needed to innovate. It's about this point in the conversation when insurance leaders start looking uneasy. And that's when the elephant in the room starts knocking over the furniture.

Teach and Test Announced by Accenture today, the testing tools are meant to help developers create "safe, reliable and transparent" AI that effectively integrates into the scenarios it's designed for. The tools are based around the two-stage Teach and Test algorithm and address ethics, bias, security and compliance. The first stage of the process, "Teach," is used to focus the machine learning models and algorithms which train the AI. The Teaching process involves experimentation and statistical evaluation of different models to determine which is the most performant. The decision is made by assessing the model's accuracy, as well as additional factors such as its ethical basis and ability to withstand bias.

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. According to PwC's most recent report on the topic, the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) will be transformative.