Our Opinion
Phil points out if you look at what has happened in the market with voice-operated personal assistants, he thinks it’s about to go mainstream. “Alexa (and her Google and Apple chums) is much smarter than a toy but not quite a tool yet,” but she’s getting there. Looking at how we’ve gone from not having anything like this to having so much of it in such a short time, he thinks “we’re going to see a mind-boggling array of much more obvious and powerful AI tools in the home over the next year.” Kenneth believes “AI has entered its golden age and is making big strides like never before.” He points to the world of robots and AI-based chatbots, believing it’s “not around the corner – it’s right here,” and an everyday reality in many industries. From finance and customer service to healthcare and manufacturing, all have entered the world of AI and are moving now towards Android and iOS apps, making smartphones smarter. Ada doesn’t think we’ll see robots everywhere in 2018, so if this is the definition of “AI,” she doesn’t believe it will be mainstream for a decade or so. We’ll see more and more AI for sure, but not with that big of a leap in 2018.
Fabio thinks 2018 “will be just another year where AI will still get some fine-tuning,” but he doesn’t think anything really huge is going to happen. As far as AI is concerned, Miguel doesn’t foresee anything game-changing, “but research will help push new products into the market and refine the ability of software to recognize things like our speech and expressions.” Like Kenneth, he believes our devices are going to get smarter. He also believes we’ll see “more back-end work, like better big data analysis, that will lead to smarter recommendations for users.” It won’t affect people directly, though. Ryan is doubtful that we’ll see any practical application for AI in a regular person’s everyday life. “Even if there were useful ways to implement it, AI would need to be integrated into our lives gradually over time,” in order for people to know how to use it as well as not be “freaked out” by it. I have to admit that one of my favorite cartoons when I was growing up was “The Jetsons,” so I’ve been looking forward to an AI world within the home. That cartoon always fascinated me. However, I don’t think we’re quite there yet in many areas, but I do think we’ve surpassed some of those ideas in many ways. I know it’s silly, but that’s my barometer. When I can program a machine to make a full dinner in a matter of minutes, I will know that we have arrived.
Your Opinion
Is artificial intelligence already touching your life to where you think it might become mainstream this year? Or do you think it still has a ways to go and that it’s not going to happen in 2018? Do you think artificial intelligence will become mainstream in 2018? Join our conversation below in the comments section.
