In a recent blog I stated that "Crossing the AI Chasm" is primarily an organizational and cultural challenge, not a technology challenge. That "Crossing the AI Chasm" not only requires organizational buy-in, but more importantly, necessitates creating a culture of adoption and continuous learning fueled at the front-lines of customer and/or operational engagement (see Figure 1). A recent Harvard Business Review (HBR) article "Building the AI-Powered Organization" agrees that despite the promise of AI, many organizations' efforts with it are falling short because of a failure by senior management to rewire the organization from the bottom up. The above points – interdisciplinary collaboration, data-driven at the front-line, and experimental and adaptive – are the hallmarks of an organization where everyone has been trained to Think Like a Data Scientist." So, how can your organization embrace the liberating and innovative process of getting everyone to "Think Like a Data Scientist"?

In a recent blog I stated that "Crossing the AI Chasm" is primarily an organizational and cultural challenge, not a technology challenge. That "Crossing the AI Chasm" not only requires organizational buy-in, but more importantly, necessitates creating a culture of adoption and continuous learning fueled at the front-lines of customer and/or operational engagement (see Figure 1). A recent Harvard Business Review (HBR) article "Building the AI-Powered Organization" agrees that despite the promise of AI, many organizations' efforts with it are falling short because of a failure by senior management to rewire the organization from the bottom up. The above points – interdisciplinary collaboration, data-driven at the front-line, and experimental and adaptive – are the hallmarks of an organization where everyone has been trained to "Think Like a Data Scientist." So, how can your organization embrace the liberating and innovative process of getting everyone to "Think Like a Data Scientist"?

AI is a game changer. And being a data and analytics guy, I could not be more excited about it. The McKinsey research study "Notes from the AI frontier: Applications and value of deep learning" provided some valuable insights into where and how Artificial Intelligence (i.e., Deep Learning / Neural Networks (CNNs, RNNs, GANs), Reinforcement Learning and Deep Reinforcement Learning) will derive and drive new sources of customer, product and operational value, especially when compared to traditional analytic approaches. AI will add billions of dollars of financial and economic value to ALL industries. A no-brainer if ever one existed.

Every day brings another exciting story of how artificial intelligence is improving our lives and businesses. AI is already analyzing x-rays, powering the Internet of Things and recommending best next actions for sales and marketing teams. But for every AI success story, countless projects never make it out of the lab. That's because putting machine learning research into production and using it to offer real value to customers is often harder than developing a scientifically sound algorithm. Many companies I've encountered over the last several years have faced this challenge, which I refer to as "crossing the AI chasm."

Simon Chan is senior director of product management for Salesforce Einstein and former co-founder/CEO of PredictionIO. Every day brings another exciting story of how artificial intelligence is improving our lives and businesses. AI is already analyzing x-rays, powering the Internet of Things and recommending best next actions for sales and marketing teams. But for every AI success story, countless projects never make it out of the lab. That's because putting machine learning research into production and using it to offer real value to customers is often harder than developing a scientifically sound algorithm.