Artificial intelligence is a transformative tool in the workplace -- except when it isn't. For top managers, state-of-the art AI tools are a no-brainer: in theory, they increase revenues, decrease costs, and improve the quality of products and services. But in the wild, it's often just the opposite for frontline employees who actually need to integrate these tools into their daily work. Not only can AI tools yield few benefits, but they can also introduce additional work and decrease autonomy. Our research on the introduction of 15 AI clinical decision support tools over the past five years at Duke Health has shown that the key to successfully integrating them is recognizing that increasing the value for frontline employees is as important as making sure the tools work in the first place.

Accenture's latest report on AI and how businesses use it has found that only 12% of nearly 1200 companies worldwide (termed AI Achievers) have advanced their AI maturity enough to achieve superior growth and business transformation. That's despite AI and machine learning being embedded in most of our everyday processes. Every time you use a wayfinding app to get from point A to point B, use dictation to convert speech to text, or unlock your phone using face ID - you're relying on AI. Unfortunately, most businesses (63%) are still testing the waters regarding this new technology. In its new report, The Art of AI Maturity, Accenture designed a holistic AI-maturity framework.

The way Timnit Gebru sees it, the foundations of the future are being built now. In Silicon Valley, home to the world's biggest tech companies, the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution is already well under way. Software is being written and algorithms are being trained that will determine the shape of our lives for decades or even centuries to come. If the tech billionaires get their way, the world will run on artificial intelligence. Cars will drive themselves and computers will diagnose and cure diseases. Art, music and movies will be automatically generated.

Enterprises spanning virtually all industries and markets are jumping onto the artificial intelligence bandwagon. Yet as they climb on board for a ride into the future they soon discover that stock AI tools aren't capable of meeting their exact business needs. However, organizations don't need to spend large amounts of time and money building their own AI tools to fix this problem, suggested Kevin McMahon, executive director of mobile and emerging technologies at digital tech consultancy SPR. All they have to do, he noted in an interview, is to customize already existing tools to fit their exact business needs. To be effective, AI software must be tailored to address specific business problems, and this is where generic algorithms often fall short, said Sanjay Srivastava, chief digital officer at professional services firm Genpact.

Sponsored webcast Most companies today are aware that artificial intelligence and machine learning are set to play an ever more important role within businesses, from anticipating customers' needs to automating and streamlining processes. But look behind the glowing hype surrounding AI's potential, and you find delivering it is not as simple as it appears. Businesses hold growing volumes of data, though often their pipelines are restricted by the constraints of their hardware. Many organisations still rely on spinning magnetic disks to store and deliver data. The resulting compromises between traditional storage and flash and cloud-based models can create bottlenecks in the delivery of AI. In our webinar – which starts at 11am BST / 12pm CEST on April 17 – Ryan Sayre, global technologist at flash storage vendor Pure Storage, cuts though the complexities and helps you to define the right combination of hardware and software your business needs to make the most of AI and analytics.

Leading the list of hot trends in the workplace for 2018 are artificial intelligence enhancements in machine learning devices. As a result, does this mean that small business owners must add one more item to their list of new skills to stay current? Salesforce indicates that 62 percent of companies will be using A.I. technologies by 2018. Since ignoring the latest advances in technology isn't an option to be successful and most small businesses are not in a position to add a chief data officer to the team, small business owners need to understand how A.I. can work for them. To figure out what would work best for your small business, first get up to speed on what the next couple of years hold in store.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is poised to have a transformational impact on business. Information technology is no longer just about process automation and codifying business logic. Instead, insight is the new currency, and the speed with which we can scale that insight and the knowledge it brings is the basis for value creation and the key to competitive advantage. According to Gartner, AI will be one of the top five investment priorities for more than 30% of CIOs globally, by 2020. Many organizations are still early in their data science journey and are trying to understand how AI can transform their businesses.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am happy to be here today at the inauguration of the Wadhwani Institute of Artificial Intelligence. Let me begin by congratulating Romesh Wadhwani ji and Sunil Wadhwani ji,The Government of Maharashtra, and Mumbai University for coming together to make this Institute a reality. This is a prime example of how the public sector and the private sector can combine with good intention to build a world-class institute aimed at benefiting the poor. I have had various interactions with Indian diaspora across the globe during the last three and a half years or so. I have felt an intense desire, to make a contribution to India.

Will the dawn of the era of artificial intelligence (AI), herald a timely demise of the customer complaints department? While perhaps a tad optimistic, service providers know that when it comes to AI, its potential is too huge to be measured. And despite all the hype and discussion around its benefits, there remains much confusion about how to make AI really work for both service providers and their customers. So what exactly is AI, and what makes it so important that service providers should start acting now to make it an integral part of their long-term strategy? According to Gartner's IT Glossary, AI is technology that appears to emulate human performance – typically by learning, coming to its own conclusions, appearing to understand complex content, engaging in natural dialog with people, and enhancing human cognitive performance.