Tech Trends in Practice

TREND 1Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

The One-Sentence Definition

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning refers to the ability of machines to learn and act intelligently – meaning they can make decisions, carry out tasks, and even predict future outcomes based on what they learn from data.

What Is Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning?

Speaking in 2016, Stephen Hawking said, “Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history.” Now, it’s no secret that technology trends often create a lot of hype. But in the case of AI, the hype is warranted. Like Hawking, I believe AI will transform our world and how we live in it.

AI and machine learning already plays a bigger role in everyday life than you might imagine. Alexa, Siri, Amazon’s product recommendations, Netflix’s and Spotify’s personalized recommendations, every Google search you make, security checks for fraudulent credit card purchases, dating apps, fitness trackers … all are driven by AI.

AI and machine learning is the foundation on which many other technology trends in this book are built. For instance, without AI, we wouldn’t have achieved the amazing advances in the Internet of Things (IoT, Trend 2), virtual reality (Trend 8), chatbots (Trend 11), facial recognition (Trend 12), robotics and automation (Trend 13), or self-driving cars (Trend 14) – to name just a few.

But what exactly is AI and machine learning, and how does it work? In very simple terms, AI involves applying ...