Artificial Intelligence

Chapter 3. The Simplest Way to Reach Your Artificial Intelligence Potential

It’s difficult to talk about transformation because the word is both a process and a result. As a process, transformation applies to broad areas of your business, crossing organizational and divisional boundaries. The result, if the process is successful, will be a business that is more efficient, meets its clients’ needs better, and can adapt flexibly to fast-changing conditions around it. An AI-based transformation of an energy services company, for example, could include completely new ways of trading energy commodities, matching supply to demand, managing the power grid, and forecasting demand.

Simple plans are easier to communicate and execute. The simplest way to transform your organization using AI and reach your AI potential is to adopt and repeatedly apply a simple metaphor, a simple execution model, and a simple team structure.

Think of AI as a Utility

A simple metaphor could treat AI as a utility. If AI is the new electricity, the best way to harness AI is to build an electrical utility. The applications of AI are varied and the technologies for implementing AI are many, but every good application performs the same basic functions:

• It accesses and collects data from various sources.

• It ingests the data, cleans it, and maps it to standard concepts.

• It automates the execution of algorithms.

• It generates insights and distributes them throughout the enterprise.

Figure 3-1 presents a visual ...