Big Data is the unexpected resource bonanza of the current century. Moore's Law driven advances in computing power, the rise of cheap storage and advances in algorithm design have enabled the capture, storage, and processing of many types of data previously that were unavailable for use in computing systems. Documents, email, text messages, audio files, and images are now able to transform into a usable digital format for use by analysis systems, especially artificial intelligence. The AI systems can scan massive amounts of data and find both patterns and anomalies that were previously unthinkable and do so in a timeframe that was unimaginable. While most of the uses of Big Data have been coupled with AI/machine learning algorithms so companies and understand their customer's choices and improve their overall experience (think about recommendation engines, chatbots, navigation apps and digital assistants among others) there are uses that are truly industry transforming.

As engineers and technologists, we should always be mindful that there are consequences to our work. It is fundamental to the design of a product that its use and potential be understood, even before you create it. Since AI is relatively new to all of us, we have to be especially diligent; there is not a lot of history demonstrating the different ways AI tools can or should be used. AI opens up whole new fields of potential value, such as doctors being able to use it to improve their cancer treatment decisions. But with that comes uncertainty about unexpected consequences that could be introduced.

As engineers and technologists, we should always be mindful that there are consequences to our work. It is fundamental to the design of a product that its use and potential be understood, even before you create it. Since AI is relatively new to all of us, we have to be especially diligent; there is not a lot of history demonstrating the different ways AI tools can or should be used. AI opens up whole new fields of potential value, such as doctors being able to use it to improve their cancer treatment decisions. But with that comes uncertainty about unexpected consequences that could be introduced.