Making small companies intelligent

It is a truism that artificial intelligence (AI) is set to change the world in unimaginable ways. The giants of the tech industry have realised it and are investing heavily in it, as can be seen, for instance, from Microsoft's $1 billion investment in OpenAI, which in turn was founded by Tesla's Elon Musk, and seeks to use AI to benefit all of mankind. Again, Twitter has acquired four AI companies - the biggest of them being Magic Pony for $150 million in 2016 - in its bid to improve its system of recommending specific tweets in users' timelines. Even traditional businesses are using AI to improve their services, such as UK-based grocer Nisa Retail employing Amazon Web Services to meet its business challenges. India too has plunged headlong into AI and machine learning (ML) with numerous start-ups offering AI solutions in areas such as banking, logistics and transportation.