In the past few years, AI (artificial intelligence) has grown at a rapid pace for many organizations. Now many are considering what comes next as the speed of adoption of all these emerging technologies and the IoT (Internet of Things) continues to pick up. Grand View Research suggests the global artificial intelligence market size was valued at $62.35 billion in 2020 and is expected to expand to a growth rate of 40.2% through 2028. Deep learning led the market and North America dominated, accounting for more than 40% share of global revenue in 2020. In 2020, software solutions led the AI market and accounted for more than 38% of the global revenue, according to Grand View Research.

There's no denying the growing skills gap that currently looms over our workforce. The good news is that awareness is increasing. Business leaders and institutions recognize the fundamental need to invest in skills training programs for their people to stay competitive in today's digital economy. Unfortunately, while the skills gap challenge is well established, few are taking action, and the solutions are not moving quickly enough. In 2020, we can expect 200,000 tech jobs to go unfilled in Canada, according ICTC.

I'm beyond excited to be here in London with my Microsoft colleagues, as well as innovators, researchers, experts and business decision-makers from around the world at Future Decoded. Over the next two days, we will hear inspiring stories about the possibilities that exist for artificial intelligence to transform the future of work in every industry – and how critical it is that businesses foster a culture that includes everyone as we search for ways to incorporate AI responsibly. This morning's announcement that Microsoft is collaborating with Novartis to use AI to develop treatments and medications faster has the potential to improve patients' lives across the globe. A critical component of our work together is the commitment by Novartis to take AI across the entire organization. This will enable Novartis to bring together previously siloed data sets and research, and to use AI to build upon existing work quickly and efficiently.

Organizations currently using AI outperform those that don't by 11.5%. Despite this, only 24% have ... [ ] an AI strategy in place. A new report, unveiled October 1 by Microsoft UK, claims that British organizations risk being overtaken by their global counterparts unless the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology is accelerated. The report, conducted by YouGov and in partnership with Goldsmiths, University of London, focused on more than 1,000 business leaders and 4,000 employees, and includes interviews with leading industry experts from organizations such as M&S, NatWest, Renault F1 Team, Lloyds Banking Group and the NHS. Its findings demonstrate that organizations currently using AI outperform those that don't by 11.5% but despite this, only 24% have an AI strategy in place.

Microsoft Corp. has launched a new series of online courses for executives to learn about AI, as it tries to help businesses catch up to the trend of AI in business. AI Business School is a free course to educate executives about the advantages of integrating AI into their business and how to prepare their staff for the advancements it provides. Microsoft already offers similar courses for developers (AI School) and engineers (Microsoft Professional Program for Artificial Intelligence), but AI Business School will be the first of its kind for executives; as it is geared much more towards the organizational and operational aspects of implementing AI than the previous courses, which were centred around the more technical aspects of AI. The course will focus on four main areas: culture, strategy, responsible AI, and technology. A Microsoft blog post carried an endorsement from Edmund Monk, chief executive of the leading membership body for learning professionals, the Learning and Performance Institute.

Microsoft has launched the AI Business School, an online series of case studies and free instructional videos made to help business executives design and successfully implement an AI strategy within their organization. The Microsoft AI Business School follows the launch of an AI school for developers and AI School last year. AI Business School is born out of three years of conversations with customers implementing AI, as well as lessons learned from AI solutions Microsoft introduced internally, says Mitra Azizirad, Microsoft vice president of AI marketing and productization. Course content will focus on four main areas: strategy, culture, technology basics, and responsible AI. And courses will include tools for evaluating a business' AI maturity level to understand what's required to successfully implement AI, for example.

Machine learning and, more broadly, artificial intelligence (AI) have become the tech industry's most important trends over the past 18 months. And despite the hype and, to some extent, fear surrounding the technology, many businesses are now embracing AI at an impressive speed. At this rate, by the end of 2020, we predict that upwards of 90 percent of large enterprises will have either pilot or production-level applications of machine learning in their organizations. This suggests that some enterprises are quietly getting on with adopting AI and machine learning. Despite this progress, many of the pilot schemes are still highly experimental, and some organizations are struggling to understand how they can really embrace the technology. A lot of companies are embarking on proofs of concept or implementing point solutions with a narrow focus -- justifiably so, in our view, because they need to start on small projects to learn and iterate.

In recent years, some of the world's fastest growing companies have deployed artificial intelligence to solve specific business problems. In fact, according to new market research from Microsoft on how AI will change leadership, these high-growth companies are more than twice as likely to be actively implementing AI as lower-growth companies. What's more, high-growth companies are further along in their AI deployments, with about half planning to use more AI in the coming year to improve decision making compared to about a third of lower growth companies. Still, less than two in 10 of even high-growth companies are integrating AI across their operations, the research found. "There is a gap between what people want to do and the reality of what is going on in their organizations today, and the reality of whether their organization is ready," said Mitra Azizirad, corporate vice president for AI marketing at Microsoft in Redmond, Washington.

Microsoft today introduced the AI Business School, a series of case studies and free instructional videos made to help business executives design and successfully implement an AI strategy within their organization. The Microsoft AI Business School is born out of three years of conversations with customers and follows the launch of an AI school for developers and AI School first introduced last year. The AI Business School follows the lead of similar instructional guides, such as the AI Transformation Playbook from Andrew Ng. Unlike others, AI Business School material draws on three years of conversations with customers implementing AI, as well as lessons learned from AI solutions Microsoft introduced internally, Microsoft vice president of AI marketing and productization Mitra Azizirad told VentureBeat in a phone interview. Course content will focus on four main areas: strategy, culture, technology basics, and responsible AI.

An AI business school that teaches executives how to use artificial intelligence technology to improve their company has been launched by Microsoft. The free, online AI Business School will be the first in the world to help bosses learn about the technology behind AI, how to use it throughout their organisation, prepare their staff for its adoption and ensure it is used responsibly. Lectures and videos lasting up to 10 minutes, which can be accessed on-demand, will feature insights from senior Microsoft staff including Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood, Chief Marketing Officer Chris Capossela and Executive Vice-President Jean-Phillipe Courtois. Ian Fordham, Chief Learning and Skills Officer at Microsoft UK, said: "According to our own research, half of all UK organisations think their business model will be disrupted by AI within the next five years, yet only 20% of organisations are developing the skills of their staff to harness the potential of this technology to transform their ...