The Impact of AI Over The Next Half Decade

For those who may find awkward the reference to "half a decade" and not the "next decade" here is why: AI is evolving at such a staggering rate that it is simply not possible to foresee what it will represent in 10 years' time. As Maurice Conti (Chief Innovation Officer at Telefónica Alpha and former director at Autodesk) reminded on his intervention at TEDX in February 2017, in human history the "Hunter-Gatherer" age lasted for several million years, then the Agricultural age lasted several thousand years, the Industrial age has been around for a couple of centuries now, the Information age has merely a few decades and the AI age (although the concept was drawn in the 1950s) has in fact effectively started less than half a decade ago. It is very easy to mistake AI for RPA (Robotic Process Automation), so let's start by defining what sets them apart. RPA results from developing detail instructions that are translated into code which a computer interprets while actuating a robot. Therefore, RPA enables the integration with Mechatronics (robotic physical machines), to partially or fully automate human activities which are manual, repetitive and rule-based.