Artificial intelligence is going industrial, says Stanford report

Artificial intelligence is becoming a true industry, with all the pluses and minuses that entails, according to a sweeping new report. Why it matters: AI is now in nearly every area of business, with the pandemic pushing even more investment in drug design and medicine. But as the technology matures, challenges around ethics and diversity grow. Driving the news: This morning, the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) released its annual AI Index, a top overview of the current state of the field. By the numbers: Even with the pandemic, private AI investment grew by 9.3% in 2020, a bigger increase than in 2019.