The Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa (IITPSA) has welcomed the plans by the South African Revenue Service to use big data analytics and artificial intelligence to improve revenue collection and locate tax evaders. IITPSA Board member Moira de Roche says the move is welcome, if overdue. "It should have been done years ago. The more efficiently SARS collects tax that is due, the better off we will be as a country. It has been relatively easy for people to dodge tax before now, so it is a move in the right direction to start using all the data that exists across various government departments and deploying AI to identify trends and potential fraud."

Given the significant advances made by Artificial Intelligence, it's time India makes good use of this technology to encourage higher farm yields and weed out the many problems that bedevil this sector Artificial intelligence (AI) is much closer to our lives than ever before. Be it Apple's Siri or Google's Alexa, every intelligent assistant relies on speech recognition software whose backbone is AI. But for its untapped potential, human beings are turning to AI not only to play their favourite song from the playlist, but also to safeguard the environment, win over the climate change challenge and increase agricultural productivity. AI-driven technology holds immense potential. The best-laid plans, emanating from the elite minds in the scientific world, have neither been able to stave off worsening environmental conditions, nor could they ensure better state of affairs for our agricultural sector.

The government and private companies alike are taking the first steps to deploy big data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT) to gain insights into and offer solutions to problems in India's agriculture sector. To experiment with such technology, the NITI Aayog, the government's main think-tank, will start a pilot project on "precision agriculture" using AI in 10 districts to be selected from seven states: Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. This month, the NITI Aayog signed an agreement with software firm IBM to develop a model for crop-yield predictions using AI so that farmers can be provided real-time advisories in these states. While the project is aimed at improving yields through last-mile solutions, the private sector is also wagering money on so-called smart-agriculture systems. Companies such as CropIn and Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions, say they are equipped to provide a range of technologies based on AI in areas such as pest surveillance, climate control, controlled irrigation, and warehouse management.

Today, consumers can quickly order the product they want from their mobile devices or digital assistants (such as Amazon Alexa). These technologies have drastically reduced the time from impulse to buying for a consumer. However, the trade finance and international supply chain that is critical to completing the fulfillment cycle has not yet caught up with the pace of our digital consumers. It is complex, slow, and ripe for digital disruption -- 200 documents including contracts, customs clearance, and shipping are involved and exchanged among the supply chain entities, according to Maersk, the global transportation and logistics giant. Disruption is here: the confluence of three digital technologies -- big data, artificial intelligence, and blockchain -- have the potential to drastically reduce the complexities of trade finance and international supply chains.