Artificial intelligence certainly feels like the stuff of the future.
It’s been the subject of countless movies since the early 20th century, prompting many to fear that machines would overtake humans.
Some continue to worry about its power to control or even replace humans – especially since AI is becoming more of a reality with every passing day.
In fact, AI is more influential than many of us realize. Software development companies around the world have helped create innovations that are an integral part of our daily lives — from the way we communicate and how we watch TV to our education system.
The economic impact of AI is expected to reach $15.7 trillion by 2030, so we’re likely to see even more technological advancements in the coming months and years. Here are just some ways it’s already impacting our lives.
Voice assistants
When you ask Siri or Alexa to answer a question or play a song, you probably know that software development providers are behind their ability to respond. But did you know that they are able to do so because of AI?
Culling information, delivering accurate answers, scheduling appointments, and remembering previous requests are all thanks to AI. What’s more, voice assistants learn every time they are asked to perform a task because machine learning enables them to build upon prior knowledge. In the future, they may even be able to anticipate your request before you ask.
Social media
Facebook launched a feature that identifies patterns of suicidal thinking and behavior in users in 2017. Facilitated by AI, the social media giant will scan posts for language that might suggest suicidal ideation and, through the help of trained moderators, send resources and support.
While one of the most important AI tools software development companies have created for social media, it’s far from the only one. Twitter, for instance, uses AI to highlight Tweets it considers to be most relevant to the users on their timeline, taking into account what content they have engaged with in the past. Facebook has a similar mechanism for its Newsfeed feature.
Online searches
Every time Google starts auto-filling the search box with suggested terms when you start typing, it’s because of AI. Software development services like Google collect personal information about you, based on previous searches and content you’ve read or watched, among other indicators. This gives them insight into future searches.
Amazon has a similar feature. Taking information such as previous searches into account, it offers suggestions for additional products that might interest you.
Commuting
Software development companies have also incorporated AI into our daily commutes. Self-driving cars are starting to understand the basic rules of driving, but in the future, they will become more sophisticated, adapting to the current road conditions through machine learning.
Even human-driven cars have more AI-powered features, such as the ability to detect other vehicles and pedestrians on or near the road to avoid collisions.
Additionally, AI is responsible for helping you get from one place to another in the shortest time. Google Maps evaluates current road conditions, as well as predicts typical road conditions at a given point in time to help you plan ahead and find the best route.
Email is a staple of everyday life, and you’ve probably noticed some interesting features cropping up as of late. When you start typing out a response to a message in Gmail, for example, you might notice that the program suggests ways to complete your sentences. That’s a function of AI. The platform also uses its knowledge of typical responses to make recommendations. For instance, if a sender proposes a time for a meeting, Gmail might suggest you respond “That works.”
Another AI-based feature is the categorization of your messages. Using machine learning to recognize the types of messages you open, read, and mark as important, Gmail separates your inbox into primary, social, and promotion tabs. The goal is to prioritize the ones you’re most likely to read in your main primary inbox and save you the hassle of sorting through your email.
Education
AI has also made its way into the education sphere. Through software development outsourcing and partnerships with other providers, educators have new ways of teaching, grading, and more across all levels, from elementary school to higher education.
For example, Ashok Goel, a professor at Georgia Tech, developed an AI teaching assistant to answer students’ routine questions, freeing up time for his human TAs to respond to more complex queries. Jill Watson, as the machine was named, was so meticulous that many students were unaware they were not communicating with a human.
Banking
For years, financial companies have been turning to software development outsourcing to create solutions facilitating faster, easier, and more secure transactions. AI has many different applications across the financial sector.
For example, it can detect fraud via algorithms that monitor transactions and notice activity that’s unusual for a consumer. If you typically spend under $50 per day and suddenly make a $1,000 purchase, AI might notice and send you an alert.
These are just some of the many ways AI is impacting our daily lives. There are many applications across a number of sectors — entertainment, shopping, traveling, and others. As software development companies find increasingly innovative ways to leverage the technology, we’ll see it become even more sophisticated and accomplish seemingly unimaginable tasks. Will it replace humans? It doesn’t seem likely but it could make our lives a lot easier.
Photo by Przemyslaw Marczynski on Unsplash
