AI startup founders reveal their artificial intelligence trends for 2021

In the final article of a three part series* focusing on what AI startup founders are doing to navigate the fast growth AI industry, Information Age spoke to 16 founders of some the UK's leading AI startups and scaleups to understand their artificial intelligence trends for 2021, including its growing use in a variety of industries, the importance of data and talent, the impact of Covid-19 and the democratisation of AI. "Fundamentally, AI is becoming more accepted and utilised across all areas of life and people are experiencing the benefits," says Mark Nicholson, CEO, Vivacity Labs. This growing use and acceptance of AI has been driven, in part, by the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. "More and more businesses that are not fully digitalised want to undergo a digital transformation. The healthcare sector, including drug discovery in the pharmaceutical industry, has experienced a tremendous challenge over the last year. But, AI is increasingly being used in the medical sector to help tackle the virus "by analysing and interpreting data on the virus's spread," according to Dr Alex Young, founder and CEO at Virti. "It is also being used in healthcare to help with treatment and medical training.