It seems that every day you can find a news article touting AI’s potential—whether it’s a car seamlessly responding to voice commands, a robot picking stocks based on market trends, or a data entry algorithm completing routine tasks while a human employee is at lunch. AI is now everywhere.
Artificial intelligence is a branch of data science focused on computer systems and robots that mimic human behavior and intelligence. Combined with vast data troves and prodigious processing power, these computer systems can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence.
Here’s an overview of how to use AI for your business.
Table of contents
What is artificial intelligence (AI)?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a broad field within computer science that programs intelligent machines capable of mimicking human cognitive functions. A typical AI system can recognize speech, analyze data, generate insights, and perform tasks in ways that simulate human intelligence.
These capabilities are powered by various subfields of AI, including machine learning (ML), natural language processing (NLP), and computer vision. Thanks to rapid technology advances, AI tools are quickly weaving their way into everyday life.
Ways to use AI
Artificial intelligence is already playing a key role in major industries. Here are some areas where AI serves as a valuable tool:
Ecommerce
You can use AI in ecommerce to help with everything from language translation to supply chain optimization. Here are five ways AI applications are optimizing ecommerce:
1. Product recommendations. Deep learning algorithms can analyze purchase history and browsing behavior to suggest relevant products. This can boost sales and improve customer satisfaction.
2. Personalized marketing. AI bots can tailor marketing messages and promotions based on customer data, leading to more effective campaigns.
3. Fraud detection. Fraud prevention departments can use AI tools with deep learning capabilities to identify suspicious transactions in real time, protecting you from financial losses.
4. Chatbots for customer service. AI chatbots powered by speech recognition answer customer questions around the clock, which can improve customer service efficiency.
5. Demand forecasting. Machine learning models can analyze historical data to predict future demand, helping you optimize inventory management.
Healthcare
Artificial intelligence plays an increasingly large role in the healthcare industry, thanks to image recognition and deep learning techniques, among other abilities. Here’s how AI helps healthcare professionals:
- Medical diagnosis. An AI tool can analyze medical images and patient data to help doctors diagnose diseases more accurately and efficiently.
- Drug discovery. AI can analyze vast datasets to identify new drugs. This way, pharmaceutical researchers can save time and accelerate the drug development process.
- Personalized medicine. AI can analyze a patient's genetic makeup and medical history to tailor treatment plans.
- Analysis of medical images. AI can help analyze X-rays, MRIs, and other medical images to identify abnormalities and improve early detection of diseases.
Marketing
Optimize your marketing operations with AI applications. Here are abilities AI can deliver to marketing departments:
- Targeted advertising. AI can analyze customer data and browsing history to deliver targeted and personalized ads more likely to resonate with consumers. It can then adjust output as new data becomes available.
- Customer segmentation. AI can group customers into distinct segments based on shared characteristics, helping you tailor marketing campaigns for maximum effectiveness.
- Content creation. Generative AI can offer writing assistance when creating marketing content like a blog post, product description, or social media post, giving you more bandwidth to focus on strategy.
- Market research. AI can analyze consumer sentiment and online conversations to gather valuable market research data. It uses predictive analytics to anticipate future trends, helping you get ahead of the curve.
- Social media marketing. AI can automate social media tasks like scheduling posts and responding to comments. Offloading these everyday tasks to AI bots helps you save time and resources.
Finance
Financial institutions use AI-powered predictive analytics for trend forecasting and decision-making. Here’s what AI can do in the world of finance:
- Loan risk assessment. AI can analyze borrower data to assess creditworthiness and predict loan defaults, helping banks make better lending decisions.
- Algorithmic trading. AI can analyze market data, project future trends, and execute trades at high speeds, enabling more efficient and profitable trading.
- Fraud detection. AI can identify fraudulent financial activity in real time, protecting financial institutions from losses.
Manufacturing
AI can turbocharge production processes. With enough training data, AI bots can optimize everything from manufacturing to maintenance to quality control. Here are specific tasks AI performs in manufacturing:
- Process automation. AI can automate repetitive routine tasks in manufacturing, such as data entry.
- Quality control. AI can analyze product images to identify defects and ensure product quality.
- Supply chain optimization. AI can optimize supply chains by analyzing inventory data, transportation costs, and supplier performance.
- Predictive maintenance. AI can predict when equipment is likely to fail, enabling you to schedule maintenance proactively and avoid costly downtime.
Other Industries
Numerous other industries have used AI’s neural networks to automate routine tasks, optimize production processes, and anticipate market trends. Here are other AI noteworthy applications:
- Staffing. Staffing and job search platforms use AI to match applicants with employers, helping job seekers discover their dream job and HR departments find the right talent.
- Self-driving cars. AI is a key technology in the development of self-driving cars. AI algorithms help make split-second decisions based on computer vision and training instructions.
- Urban planning. Thanks to historical data and AI’s predictive capabilities, urban planners use AI applications to optimize traffic flow and keep roadways safe.
- Cybersecurity. AI can detect and prevent cyberattacks by analyzing network traffic and identifying suspicious activity.
- Legal research. AI can help lawyers with legal research by sorting and analyzing vast amounts of legal documents and case law.
- Scientific research. From biotech to space exploration, AI can be used in scientific research to analyze data, identify patterns, and generate new hypotheses.
- Content moderation. Using computer vision and optical character recognition, AI can be used to moderate content on social media platforms and other online forums, sparing human moderators from harmful or offensive content.
- Voice assistants. Data scientists have trained voice assistants like Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri to respond to human commands. They can play music, answer questions, perform calculations, order products, and more.
How to use AI FAQ
How do I use AI for free?
Use free AI through platforms like ChatGPT and Google Gemini, which provide services from natural language processing to image recognition.
How do you use AI?
Whenever you engage with a virtual assistant, receive online product recommendations, or experience autocorrect on your phone, you’re interacting with AI. AI use demands attention to ethical considerations, including bias reduction, transparency, and accountability, ensuring this potent tool serves positive ends.
Can beginners use AI?
Yes, beginners can start using AI by exploring user-friendly resources, online courses, and tutorials to gain hands-on experience in AI concepts and tools.