Almost two-thirds of CIOs see artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies as being very important or critical to their businesses over the next five years, according to a report from Forbes, in association with VMWare. The report, which surveyed over 650 CIOs from around the world, explored how CIOs and IT leaders see their role within the business evolving over the next five years, from the types of technology they will be bringing in, to how they plan to drive social responsibility. AI and machine learning were seen as the top two critical future technologies at 62% and 60% respectively, ahead of the Internet of Things (IoT), edge computing and blockchain, which came in at just 54%. AI applications may be in their infancy, but almost half of organisations around the world are using at least one AI-powered function in their business. It's seen as a technology which will have a huge impact on companies' bottom lines as IT leaders grow more confident in their use of it. "You need to have a plan of attack for AI and machine learning," said David Gledhill, CIO and group head of technology at DBS Bank in the report.

"It should be better known as artificially inflated," says Fabrice Brossart, CRO of AIG, upon discussing the role that Artificial Intelligence (AI) plays within the insurance giant. A buzzword of many years, Brossart believes that there is not enough penetration into the various sectors of AI. Chris Gledhill, a former Lloyds Group developer and current CEO of Secco, is of much the same opinion when it comes to AI. "That's the problem with emerging tech," says Gledhill, "For whatever reason we don't think about the unknowns-unknowns, chaos-style disruptions that may arise from the technology." For Gledhill, that technology, the one that he is most excited about, is neural networks, a sub-sector of the AI label. Artificial Neural Network (ANN) mirrors the concept of biological neural networks within the human brain.

DBS Bank is in the midst of an enormous digital transformation effort, one that includes an aggressive plan to implement artificial intelligence and machine learning. Part of the near-term effort is to build an enterprise AI competency. "We want to train the top 250 executives in the firm to become AI conversant," said David Gledhill, group CIO and head of group technology and operations at DBS Bank. "We want to train 200 people to be what we call AI translators." By conversant, Gledhill means training executives to understand machine learning techniques at a high level, as well as knowing enough to "intelligently question what a model is and what it can do," he said.

For CIOs and CTOs, asking which computing approaches add up to artificial intelligence and which are simply automation or BI is probably not a very useful question. The better question to think about: Do the latest developments in AI and machine learning provide a step change for solving problems and building new products or processes? David Gledhill, group CIO and head of technology and operations at DBS Bank in Singapore, put it this way: "There's a continuum. And moving along that continuum is what we care about," he said. "We'll leave it to the philosophers to determine what intelligence is."

What will enterprise AI look like in 2018? In SearchCIO interviews with IT leaders at DBS Bank, Dun & Bradstreet, State Street and the city of Boston on 2018 plans, the strong consensus was for more, not less, investment in AI projects, suggesting AI's enterprise trajectory is still on an upward slope. This complimentary document comprehensively details the elements of a strategic IT plan that are common across the board – from identifying technology gaps and risks to allocating IT resources and capabilities. You forgot to provide an Email Address. This email address doesn't appear to be valid.