Machine learning will be the big winner in 2018, Deloitte says

More businesses will be using machine learning to get the job done in 2018, while over 15 million Canadians will be using their smartphones to create augmented reality content. That's according to Deloitte's 17th annual Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) Predictions, which this year reprises 2017's emphasis on AI and machine learning, along with highlighting smartphone tech, digital media and in-flight connectivity, all of which will see advances in 2018. "Deloitte is predicting yet another machine learning big bang," says Duncan Stewart, Director of TMT Research for Deloitte Canada, in conversation with Cantech Letter. Stewart says the visible change will be in the number of companies of all sizes that will be able to take advantage of machine learning, due to an industry shift away from graphics processing units (GPUs) to using more advanced chips to power their massive data-crunching systems. "These new chips are allowing machine learning to be done a lot more cheaply, particularly when it comes to power consumption, and so it expands the market for the product," says Stewart.