The perspectives on AI in popular imagination have ranged from a useful tool to a threat, from optimistic to downright dystopian. While things are considerably less dramatic in real life, we would do well to periodically ask this of AI, a question that should be asked of all human innovation: How can it make our lives easier and better? In fact, more dimensions can be added to this very question: How can AI be repositioned beyond automation and number-crunching? How can it be made more relevant to our everyday lives? We have seen that AI excels when it augments, rather than replaces, humans and when it helps amplify our strengths of innovation, creativity, abstract thinking and, importantly, empathy.

Physician turnover in the United States, due to burnout and related factors, was conservatively estimated to cost the US healthcare system some $4.6 billion annually, according to a 2019 Annals of Internal Medicine study. The results reflect a familiar dynamic, where too many doctors are crushed in paperwork, which takes time away from being with patients. Just five months after this study was publicized, Harvard Business Review published "How AI in the Exam Room Could Reduce Physician Burnout," examining multiple artificial intelligence initiatives that may streamline providers' administrative tasks, thus reducing burnout. Still, barriers to trust in AI solutions remain, highlighted by 2020 KPMG International survey findings that note only 35% of leaders have a high degree of trust in data analytics powered by AI within their own organizations. This lack of confidence even in their own AI-driven solutions underscores the significant trust gap that exists between decision-makers and technology in the current digital era.

Engati is the world's leading no-code, multi-lingual chatbot platform. Johannes Drooghaag talks to Engati about the potential to AI to drive far more decisions than it currently is. But, even though it will drive them, it cannot make these decisions on its own. Humans will always be involved in the process and will be the final decision-makers. Johannes also talks about making technology available to all sections of society, not just the privileged class.

There's no question AI and machine learning are having a transformational impact on the home buying and refinancing journey. And while the long-term reverberations of AI's expanding role are fascinating and for some worrying, companies are realizing that marrying people with machine intelligence is the path to capitalize on AI's potential. Artificial intelligence has generated lots of unrealistic expectations. There's no shortage of vendors, or internal project plans liberally sprinkled with references to computer vision, supervised learning and other forms of the technology, with little connection to its real capabilities. Merely calling a CRM "AI-powered," for example, doesn't make it any more effective, but it might help with fundraising.

U.S. Bank's Chief Analytics Officer Bill Hoffman thinks the term "artificial intelligence" is a bit of a misnomer – he prefers to think about AI as a customized experience. "The'A' in AI should be'augmented,' not artificial," he said in an interview last year with CMO Australia. "There's nothing artificial about building a high quality, personalized relationship with a customer." Hoffman's less artificial approach to AI is transforming how U.S. Bank interacts with its customers and builds quality relationships with people. Hoffman was instrumental in U.S. Bank's adoption of Einstein, an AI platform offered by Salesforce, late last year.