Member-only story
AI as a General-Purpose Technology: Implications for Every Industry
Imagine asking your phone to translate a foreign street sign or having a friendly digital assistant book your next vacation. These handy helpers are examples of artificial intelligence in action. AI refers to computer systems that can sense, think, learn, and take actions similar to humans. Today’s common AI applications include digital assistants like Siri, intelligent vacuum cleaners, and those frustrating “I am not a robot” captchas.
AI comes in different flavors depending on the capabilities. There’s assisted intelligence, which provides a helping hand for specific tasks. Next level up is augmented intelligence, which collaborates with humans to enhance what we can achieve. And the peak AI performers are autonomous systems, which operate independently to drive cars or manage complex supply chains.
As AI steps out of university computer labs and into business and our daily lives, the opportunities feel endless. AI development is advancing rapidly, even suspiciously so to some observers. The recently launched chatbot ChatGPT convinced 100 million users in just two months that it was intelligent. Such statistics suggest that working alongside intelligent machines may soon be the norm.
Think back to seminal innovations like the steam engine, electricity, and those handy…
