It has been years since Artificial intelligence moved out of the academic closet and jumped right into the real world, solving real problems. Applied AI simply refers to the application of artificial intelligence to solve real world problems. It is not a separate field but rather a culminating extension of the field of AI and machine learning. So, let us look at what applied AI holds for the world as well as for your career.
The business end of applied AI
The global market for AI was worth $39.9 billion in 2019 and it is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 42.2% up till 2027. Those are some crazy figures and they are subject to change with some unprecedented development in the field of AI.
Why do businesses love AI
There are two primary reasons why businesses are interested in applied AI. Number one is to feel pretty and important. Number two is the genuine urge to move ahead of competition by taking well planned steps towards successful AI integration. We will mostly talk about the second case, of course.
How AI impacts business
- AI helps automate repetitive tasks while augmenting tasks that require decision making and deeper cognitive abilities.
- Increases efficiency in decision making while also reducing risk.
- Improves customer service.
- Removing human bias in terms of decision making.
- Securing more funds, because investors love AI.
If we take the example of India AI integration can have a huge impact on the nation’s economy and governance. Considering India’s population and the number of people working in BPOs, customer service, accounts, and sales, AI integration is going to accentuate the existing crisis of unemployment. But since one cannot halt the march of technology, it is a good idea to be part of it.
The socio economic end
While the disruption caused by automation in the Indian job market is undeniable and quite inevitable, we cannot ignore the bright side of it. Thousands of startups have cropped up with various new ideas which involve applied AI. STEM graduates are finding the encouragement to pursue machine learning training and AI courses. If you look at any applied AI course review, you will get a hint of the hope and the confidence these courses have provided the students with. We can say that we are witnessing the formation of a new society where the presence of artificial intelligence is an accepted reality. If you are interested you can take a look at the AI and machine learning trends to watch out for in 2020.
Careers in Applied AI
Artificial intelligence is an expansive field which has multiple subfields. Each of these subfields have multiple career opportunities for aspirants. In fact, there are fields that do not appear to be directly connected to AI and yet contribute a lot to its becoming. We will look at some such career options that aspirants can pursue.
Data scientist
Yes, data science is a different field altogether, but since AI is driven by data and the predictive models that are applied to train machine learning algorithms are mostly ideated by data scientists, we cannot leave it out of discussion.
A lot of data scientists are actively contributing to the perfection of AI. Companies that work with state of the art AI technology need data science professionals to optimize their models. Data science has been ranked the best job in America by Forbes for four years in a row.
Machine learning engineers
Machine learning is the engine that drives AI. It involves the training of a programme to respond in a certain manner to data presented to it. Machine learning engineers are responsible for creating models and algorithms which perform a specific task.
Artificial intelligence researcher
This is often quoted as the safest job on the planet. These people are researchers who drive AI innovations forward by pushing the boundaries with their research. You can say that it is not exactly a part of applied AI, but then again, there is no application without ideation.
Big data analytics expert
Machine learning and deep learning are hopelessly dependent on data. Bad data means bad results and massive losses. Hence, big data analysts are required to perfect the data pipelines and to provide clean and organized data for AI innovations.
All these fields are connected by their mutual dependency on data, hence, all these fields are within your grasp (provided you can make optimizations to your skill set) if you are an expert in applied AI.