Analytical Skills for AI and Data Science

Preface

Why Analytical Skills for AI?

Judging from the headlines and commentary in social media during the second half of the 2010s, the age of artificial intelligence has finally arrived with its promises of automation and value creation. Not too long ago, a similar promise came with the big data revolution that started around 2005. And while it is true that some select companies have been able to disrupt industries through AI- and data-driven business models, many have yet to realize the promises.

There are several explanations for this lack of measurable results—all with some validity, surely—but the one put forward in this book is the general lack of analytical skills that are complementary to these new technologies.

The central premise of the book is that value at the enterprise is created by making decisions, not with data or predictive technologies alone. Nonetheless, we can piggyback on the big data and AI revolutions and start making better choices in a systematic and scalable way, by transforming our companies into modern AI- and data-driven decision-making enterprises.

To make better decisions, we first need to ask the right questions, forcing us to move from descriptive and predictive analyses to prescriptive courses of action. I will devote the first few chapters to clarifying these concepts and explaining how to ask better business questions suitable for this type of analysis. I will then delve into the anatomy of decision-making, starting with the consequences ...