Which industries have been the most impacted by AI?

Artificial Intelligence has arrived not only to transform the way people relate to technology, but also, and especially, to change business processes and industries. This technology is increasingly gaining importance among Spanish companies and employees since, according to a HubSpot study, 88% consider AI plays a fundamental role in their daily work.

Artificial intelligence has the potential to improve our quality of life thanks to its ability to optimize services in practically any industry. Thus, knowmad mood, a technology consultancy firm specializing in digital transformation services, highlights five industries where AI has come to stay and transform them permanently:

Insurance and Finance: AI for risk detection and financial prediction.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is being applied in finance and insurance to increase fraud detection and financial forecasting accuracy. Large volumes of financial data, policy data, etc. can be analyzed by machine learning algorithms to identify trends and anomalies that may suggest fraudulent behavior. In the insurance sector, AI complemented by weather models can be used to assess the risk of weather events on client assets and thus estimate insurance costs as well as potential damages. Finally, AI-driven financial forecasting models can help companies make more accurate forecasts of future revenues and profitability.

On the other hand, many companies are using cognitive AI to shorten the time it takes to analyze contract documents, invoices and so on. Through these solutions, important information is extracted from documents automatically, reducing the time for decision making and improving the process.

Healthcare: AI to improve treatment efficacy and speed up diagnosis

The healthcare industry is also starting to rely on machine learning and Big Data in order to improve medical diagnosis and clinical decision making. According to a report by Frost & Sullivan, the application of AI translates to improvements in health results of up to 40%. This allows for the detection and prediction of patterns and anomalies that might go unnoticed by physicians, enabling early diagnosis of diseases such as cancer or heart disease that are not easily detectable, in order to help healthcare professionals make better decisions. And not only that, by combining predictive analytics and AI, doctors can provide personalized treatment based on each patient’s medical history and enriched with real-time information from biosensors, personal devices and mobile apps.

Industrial and energy sector: AI for sustainable, efficient and flexible production

Today, to achieve optimized, higher quality and more sustainable industrial production, it is necessary to increase efficiency, reduce unplanned manufacturing stoppages, increase product quality and automate processes, which is why, according to the AI Index report, 10% of companies in the industrial sector have already adopted this technology. The industry relies primarily on machine vision solutions and AI cognitive services for predictive maintenance that anticipates machine and plant failures by monitoring information from process sensors and images in real time, automatic inspection of product quality with machine vision, prediction and optimization of energy consumption by means of AI and digital twins. These solutions enable better management of all resources, minimize time and reduce production and maintenance costs. And, beyond that, it enables improved safety of people in industrial environments and agile and informed decision making.

Education and training: AI as the key to the learning experience

Artificial intelligence is completely turning around how we understand the educational learning process, putting the focus on personalization based on the individual characteristics and needs of learners. In this sense, AI applied in this field allows teachers to improve the analysis of their students’ academic performance, as it is able to establish learning patterns to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each student. In fact, these systems that adapt to the particular needs of students and provide personalized programs for students are able to improve grades by 62%, according to a Knewton study conducted with more than 10,000 students.

Security and surveillance: using AI to anticipate crime

AI has also shown that its predictive capabilities can help in the fight against crime, and governments and companies are increasingly aware of this. In fact, their investment in AI solutions will exceed €500 billion by 2023, according to IDC data. The key to the security and surveillance sector lies in machine learning or deep learning, implemented in surveillance devices such as security cameras, which are capable of analyzing recorded images precisely in order to identify patterns and strange behaviors in them. Thus, based on data analysis and predictive models, professionals in this sector can be automatically alerted and provide a faster and more efficient response in the event of intrusions or security emergencies.

Human Resources: optimizing recruitment and talent management processes

The ability of AI to analyze large amounts of data has also changed the field of human resources and talent management. For example, artificial intelligence algorithms are capable of analyzing the professional profiles of potential job candidates in order to identify key competencies in the selection processes. Similarly, it enables HR managers to manage internal talent and identify candidates in order to offer them opportunities for both promotion and career development.

“Artificial intelligence is the key to improving people’s quality of life and, in fact, these examples we have seen are only a small percentage compared to its true potential. However, artificial intelligence presents challenges that we need to address, especially for companies, which are becoming more and more committed to benefit from this technology. At knowmad mood we understand AI as a strategic project for your business, and therefore we believe it is necessary to support you throughout the life cycle of this challenge: from the initial education and training through the agile discovery of initiatives to the proofs of concept, pilots and scaling of the same. This way, we will gradually manage to harness the potential of AI for the benefit of society as a whole” says Gustavo Sandoval, Head of IoT, Smart Industry & AI at knowmad mood.