Artificial intelligence (AI) has fuelled science fiction for decades. Yet now, with technology having caught up with and overtaken human imagination, its capabilities are becoming science fact and too powerful for business leaders to ignore. AI, even in its relative infancy, is enabling C-suiters to redraw all aspects of their organisations. Those who embrace AI and related nascent digital technologies – automation, robotics, machine-learning, big data – are already gaining a significant advantage over laggards. "Everything invented in the past 150 years will be reinvented using AI within the next 15 years," predicts Randy Dean, San Francisco-based chief business officer at Launchpad.AI.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has fuelled science fiction for decades. Yet now, with technology having caught up with and overtaken human imagination, its capabilities are becoming science fact and too powerful for business leaders to ignore. AI, even in its relative infancy, is enabling C-suiters to redraw all aspects of their organisations. Those who embrace AI and related nascent digital technologies – automation, robotics, machine-learning, big data – are already gaining a significant advantage over laggards. "Everything invented in the past 150 years will be reinvented using AI within the next 15 years," predicts Randy Dean, San Francisco-based chief business officer at Launchpad.AI.

New Delhi: Accenture Operations, the 7-billion business segment of technology firm Accenture Plc, which deals with process outsourcing, infrastructure consulting and outsourcing, security and cloud services, is betting on automation platforms backed by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning for its next phase of growth, said Manish Sharma, senior managing director, Accenture Operations in an interview earlier this week. "Analytics and automation are critical and are high-focus areas for us. We are using automation technologies at scale for our client base," he said. "We are investing a lot of money and time into the AI piece. In automation, there is simple automation like Mini-Bots and then there is high-end automation solutions like Virtual Assistance and artificial or cognitive solutions," he explained.