How AI Is Accelerating Business Growth and Innovation

Despite the many ominous connotations trumpeted in works of fiction, the adoption and growth of AI can is simply another phase of the technological advance that has marked the development of human society. Yet, because we associate intelligence with living creatures, particularly our own species, the idea of machines that possess that faculty excites some trepidation. AI agents may turn out to be as unpredictable and perverse as any intelligent human. No such worry is evident in Silicon Valley. Sundar Pichai, Google's chief, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, enthused about the technology: "AI is probably the most important thing humanity has ever worked on. I think of it as something more profound than electricity or fire," he said. Google is a major participant in an AI market that is clipping along at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.5%. Globally, the industry is projected to swell to $554.3 billion by 2024. Other players of note are IBM, Intuit, Microsoft, OpenText, Palantir, SAS, and Slack.