This article is part of a VB special issue. Enterprise companies have experimented with artificial intelligence (AI) for years -- a pilot here, a use case there. But company leaders have long dreamed of going bigger, better and faster when it comes to AI. That is, applying AI at scale. The goals of this quest may vary.

We are excited to bring Transform 2022 back in-person July 19 and virtually July 20 - 28. Join AI and data leaders for insightful talks and exciting networking opportunities. Birds, fish, insects and other creatures have long been known to swarm or "murmur," -- which means on occasion they will move and coordinate as a group, rather than as directed by a centralized leader. This age-old practice throughout the nature of protection-by-confusion has given rise to the emerging concept of "swarm learning" – what some are touting as the next era in AI innovation. When applied to intelligent devices operating in the real world, "swarm learning" refers to decentralization. This means that users can share learnings at the edge, or at distributed sites, without moving or exposing data.