Nick Thomson, general manager of AI at iManage, expects artificial intelligence to continue its 鈥榞reat disappearing act鈥�.
鈥淎I will instead be plugged into the back of applications. When AI is productised like this, customers don鈥檛 have to worry about how to use it or how to wire all the different pieces together 鈥� the AI simply becomes part of a product that they can easily take advantage of,鈥� he says.听
鈥淏ecause of this productisation trend, you鈥檒l start to see increasing consolidation among AI vendors for the simple reason that it doesn’t make a lot of sense for tech vendors to each build their own AI engine for their application to sit on top of.鈥�
He adds: 鈥淚ncreasingly, there鈥檚 a need for greater explainability with AI. Users need to be able to say how and why the AI arrived at a particular decision rather than just writing off AI as a 鈥榖lack box鈥� whose thought process is totally opaque.听
鈥淏ecause AI is being used to assist with both process automation – extracting clauses from mountains of contracts, for example – as well as decision-making, there needs to be more explainability at that decision-making level.听
鈥淢aking sure that the rules and the logic behind a decision are not just fully explainable to a human being but also defensible are key to ensuring that AI isn鈥檛 inadvertently making bad decisions based on poorly trained models, unintentional bias, or other faulty logic.鈥�
Param Kahlon, chief product officer at UiPath, says 鈥榮emantic automation鈥� will revolutionise how AI automates processes.
鈥淭oday, automation developers need to tell robots what to do, step-by-step: Move here, open this, extract that, bring it there鈥︹�� he says.
鈥淪emantic automation allows automation to start to move away from rules-based approaches to eliminate much of this developer labour. Semantically enabled robots will not only be able to see and read what鈥檚 on the screen; they will also understand the relationships between, and contexts around, documents, processes, data, and applications.听
鈥淪oon, software robots will be able to simply observe an activity and begin to emulate it without step-by-step instructions. They鈥檒l recognise the process, understand what data is required, and know where to get this data and where to move it.听
鈥淒evelopers and business users will be able to initiate automation development simply by asking robots to perform a task or complete a workflow.
鈥淐IOs should monitor advances in this revolutionary technology as automation leaders achieve new breakthroughs in AI, machine learning, and pattern recognition into their platforms in 2022.鈥�
Eric Tyree, head of AI and research at robotic process automation experts Blue Prism, says more decision-makers will realise the transformative power of intelligent automation in 2022.
鈥淎 key shift we鈥檒l see is the realisation that only a truly unified workforce can deliver a business鈥檚 full potential,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he unified workforce is one where humans and digital robots work as a single cohesive construct.
鈥淭hroughout 2022, we鈥檒l see these developments accelerate even further, continually adding to digital robots鈥� skillset. The embedding of AI and machine learning into digital robots will enable businesses to make automations faster and cheaper to program and execute, increase the scope over which they can be done, and ease the path towards being able to orchestrate digital robots as they expand across the enterprise.听
鈥淭his in turn will lead to rapid scaling of automation programs to play increasingly strategic roles in businesses.鈥�
Krik Gunning, co-founder and CEO at Fourthline, says society at large has become increasingly interested in and vocal about how personal data is used by technology companies.听
鈥淭his will lead to more tough questions asked, with answers therefore needing听 to meet a high ethical bar,鈥� he says.
鈥淏anks will have to be able to explain how AI is applied to compliance and fraud. This also impacts听 vendor onboarding as it requires an understanding of whether their partners and vendors have full听 control over the technology they offer.听
鈥淓very bank will need to be able to explain both to regulators,听 and the general public, how and why a decision was taken.鈥澨�
Fergus Mayne, country manager UK and Ireland at Motorola Solutions, agrees that organisations must continue to educate and provide transparency around the use of AI.
鈥淎lgorithms and data analytics are playing an increasingly important role in all aspects of society, including in the UK鈥檚 policing and security services. As with any artificial intelligence technology, trust and transparency are vital,鈥� he says.听
鈥淎 key priority for the successful implementation of AI within public safety is to explain how, when used responsibly, it can have a profound and positive impact. When AI is integrated into a wider set of workflows, its application in a public safety setting is transformative, potentially enabling agencies to predict incidents before they occur.
鈥�The success of public safety technology innovation and the evolution of AI depends on citizens, public safety agencies and enterprises all being able to understand and trust the technologies that we鈥檙e increasingly using.听
鈥淎s we look towards 2022, the gap between safety objectives and technology will continue to close, but its success depends on strong community and stakeholder engagement.鈥�
The challenges the next year will bring with potential COVID-19 restrictions and supply chain issues will see companies turn to AI more than ever before, according to Rory Kenny, CEO of Loudly.
鈥淎I will continue to be an effective tool to analyse consumer behaviour, aiding better informed decision making in terms of marketing and selling strategies,鈥� he says. 鈥淲ith increasing pressure on supply chains, AI offers crucial insight by accurately predicting what products consumers want and need and therefore assisting better product availability for organisations.听
鈥淎I will also enhance the above areas such as NFTs and the Metaverse by allowing users to create individual experiences and spaces tailored to their needs and tastes using the technology.听
鈥淎dditionally, AI will address pain points such as Loudly which allows business teams and individuals to create royalty free music to use on their social media channels, website and marketing collateral.鈥�