The Building Blocks of an AI Strategy

As the popularity of artificial intelligence waxes and wanes, it feels like we are at a peak. Hardly a day goes by without an organization announcing "a pivot toward AI" or an aspiration to "become AI-driven." Banks and fintechs are using facial recognition to support know-your-customer guidelines; marketing companies are deploying unsupervised learning to capture new consumer insights; and retailers are experimenting with AI-fueled sentiment analysis, natural language processing, and gamification. A close examination of the activities undertaken by these organizations reveals that AI is mainly being used for tactical rather than strategic purposes -- in fact, finding a cohesive long-term AI strategic vision is rare. Even in well-funded companies, AI capabilities are mostly siloed or unevenly distributed.