What is AI?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to the development of computer systems and software that can perform tasks that would typically require human intelligence. AI encompasses technologies such as machine learning, neural networks, and natural language processing which allow machines to intake information, adapt to new situations, and perform tasks with varying degrees of autonomy.

• Machine Learning: This is a subset of AI that focuses on developing algorithms that allow computers to learn from data. Instead of being explicitly programmed, machine learning models can analyze large datasets to identify patterns and make predictions or decisions based on that data.
• Machine Vision: Machine vision involves the use of computer systems to interpret and understand visual information from images or videos. This technology is valuable for tasks such as object recognition, quality control, and autonomous navigation in industries like manufacturing and autonomous vehicles.
• Large Language Models (LLMs): If you’ve heard of ChatGPT, you’re already familiar with LLMs which are highly advanced natural language processing models that can understand, generate, and interact with text and voice-based language. They are used in applications like chatbots, language translation, content generation, and sentiment analysis.

What Are the Business Benefits of AI?

AI’s potential for cost reduction and revenue generation has made it a critical tool for organizations across various industries. There are many ways that AI can be leveraged to:

• Improve Efficiency: AI can automate repetitive tasks, freeing up your employees to focus on high-value, creative, and strategic work.
• Improve Decision-Making: AI can analyze vast amounts of data and extract valuable insights, helping you make informed, data-driven decisions.
• Enhance Customer Experiences: Chatbots, virtual assistants, and personalization powered by AI can provide better customer service and engagement.
• Predict Trends: AI can help you anticipate market trends, customer preferences, and potential issues before they even arise.

Are you ready to get started with AI?What Industries Can Benefit Most From AI?

AI is an incredibly versatile tool that isn’t exclusive to any one industry. However, some sectors are particularly well-suited to benefit from AI:

• Associations: policy and regulation intelligence, membership segmentation and personalization, data product creation for members
• Financial Services: fraud detection, personalized offers, risk prediction, customer service automation
• Healthcare: medical diagnoses, drug discovery, and patient care
• Insurance: fraud detection, competitor filing intelligence, claims severity prediction, product recommendations
• Retail: machine vision / object detection to improve customer service and conversion rates, supply chain automation, inventory management
• State Government: citizen service bots, DOT predictive maintenance, traffic flow optimization, expedited licensing

Is Your Enterprise AI Ready?

While AI offers many benefits, it requires significant groundwork to be effective so assessing your organization’s AI readiness is critical. 

If you are considering investing in AI, here are some key questions to ask:

• Data Architecture & Availability: Do you have reliable access to accurate data? AI thrives on data, so having the right data architecture in place is crucial. If your enterprise has not yet completed a Data Strategy Roadmap, that is the best place to start.
• Robust Use Cases: AI is not magic. Do you have to develop a clear vision on how it can provide benefits? Does your solution design have a good chance of meeting that need?
• Leadership Support: Is your leadership on board with AI adoption? With such a significant undertaking that is very likely to impact business processes, it’s essential to have top-down support.
• Skilled Workforce: Do your employees have the necessary skills to manage AI projects or are you ready to invest in training? Do you know how to manage the risks of an AI initiative? 
• Budget: Can you allocate resources for AI implementation and maintenance?
• Security and Ethics: Are you prepared to address security and ethical concerns that AI may raise?

What Do Businesses Need to Consider to be AI Ready?

Becoming AI ready requires careful planning and background work. Some considerations to address include defining your:

• Key Goals: Identify specific business problems you want AI to solve.
• Data Strategy: Developing a strategy for collecting, storing, and processing data is critical to your organization’s ability to leverage AI. 
• AI Delivery Plan: Beyond just a data strategy, you must define how you will actually build the AI solution. This requires sound expertise and solid oversight to be successful.
• Talent Acquisition or Training Plan: Managing AI requires a unique skillset. Hire AI experts or upskill your current employees to ensure that you have the right team in place.
• Security and Compliance: Prior to implementing AI, you’ll need to address data security and ethical considerations, such as cybersecurity risks, data protection, bias & fairness, and auditability.

Having built many solutions across a wide variety of industries, UDig can help you with each of these needs by creating a plan tailored to your business.

What Resources Can a Business Use to Assist with AI Readiness?

Don’t worry, you don’t have to embark on this AI journey alone. There are various resources to assist you:

• Consultants: At UDig, we have over 20 years of experience guiding our clients through the process of adopting new technologies and AI is no different. Whether you need to address the foundations of your data strategy or you’re ready to go all-in on AI, we can partner with you throughout the process.
• Online Courses: Encourage your employees to take online courses to gain AI skills.
• Government Initiatives: Some governments offer incentives and programs to support AI adoption.
• AI Communities: Join AI forums and communities for advice and knowledge-sharing.

AI is no longer the future; it’s here and now. By understanding the benefits, recognizing the industries that can leverage it most, assessing your AI readiness, and laying the right groundwork, you can help your business prepare for the future by investing in AI.

Note: This piece was written with the help of ChatGPT which is an AI LLM (Large Language Model). Similar to any AI project, we had to use some elbow grease to structure the ask of AI in the right way and spend time reviewing, validating, and qualifying the output. Some of what AI gave us was wrong, some was repetitive, and a lot was wordy and formulaic. The importance of these human steps grows as the stakes and complexity of the use case grows.