The AI Ladder

Introduction

Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the greatest opportunities of our time. Fueled by vast amounts of data and unprecedented advances in machine learning, it has the potential to add almost 16 trillion dollars to the global economy by 2030. AI is poised to transform organizations across every industry and alter the very way people work. According to Gartner, AI augmentation (a combination of human and artificial intelligence) will recover 6.2 billion hours of worker productivity in 2021. Despite these promising forecasts, AI adoption has been slower than anticipated. It has been reported that 81% of business leaders do not understand the data and infrastructure required for AI. This report aims to present executives and line-of-business professionals with a unified, prescriptive approach—the AI Ladder—for successful implementation of AI.

AI Is the New Electricity

AI is one of the greatest challenges and opportunities of our time. It is poised to change the way people work, how enterprises operate, and how entire industries transform. AI initiatives offer more than just cost savings—they actually help organizations predict and shape future outcomes; allow people to do higher-value work; automate decisions, processes, and experiences; and reimagine new business models. Ultimately, this means increased revenue.

AI, however, is often portrayed as some mystical thing; a magical black box that’s being put to work, with little understanding of how it ...