You may have heard about Artificial Intelligence (AI). These days it is a hot topic among both the older and younger generations alike. But many people are still don’t know what AI really stands for. In their minds, many equate it to Skynet from the Terminator films and irrationally fear that it’s going to take over the world.
But, let’s not go into a full-on panic mode just yet. The technology isn’t that advanced. At least not right now. At least not yet. What people should be focusing on right now are the benefits of AI and how it can change our lives for the better. This is especially true for business owners because AI has the potential to revolutionalize their entire industries.
What is AI?
AI can be broadly described as any human-like task performed by a program or a machine.
Artificial Intelligence is usually divided into two main types: narrow AI and general AI. Narrow AI refers to the computers of our generation; systems that can only learn or be taught how to do certain tasks. Popular examples include Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, self-driving cars, recommendation engines, etc.
General AI is a bit different. It refers to the type of adaptable intellect found in humans. This means learning how to carry out vastly different tasks and adapting to the ever-changing environment. This type of AI is portrayed in the Terminator series. However, scientists are still debating whether or not humans are actually capable of producing general AI with our current resources.
Improvement of Business Productivity Due to AI
Businesses have befitted a lot from AI, especially in terms of productivity. In this article, we’re going to discuss how this improvement has been made possible. So without any further ado, let’s just jump into it.
Convincing the Skeptics
People don’t doubt the benefits of AI. What they do doubt is if they worth it. Many experts in the field believe that even if new technologies offer more capacity, efficiency, and performance, these advantages are temporarily offset by the time taken to learn them. Thankfully, this isn’t the case with AI.
AI provides you with analytics that can help you make informed decisions. You can treat it as impartial advice and recommendations. One of the main benefits of AI is its ability to automate activities. Now employees don’t have to spend time and creativity on complex issues. This is what an intuitive technology does, using and supporting human expertise to achieve better results.
Think of it as buying a new truck but instead of you driving it, the truck drives itself.
Decreasing Human Error and Saving Time
As we discussed earlier, one of the main benefits of AI is automation. A self-learning AI naturally improves over time. As the software grows, it can potentially outpace human in some specific fields.
For example, Google’s deep learning AI has been able to detect cancer better than human doctors. Its algorithm was able to produce improved heat maps and the localization score was also higher, 89% compared to the 73% scored by humans.
Employees are happier and more motivated
Despite fears that AI is going to steal our jobs, the reality is that it can also improve employees’ work lives.
Take for example a sales reps. They have to do boring and repetitive tasks all day. AI can reduce these mundane tasks and even offer great advice or recommendations. This can allow sales reps to focus more on their customers and get repeat business. With this, employees can concentrate on doing what they do best: acting like a human rather than a machine.
Tracking Employee Work Hours
Long gone are the days when employees used to clock in and out of work on a daily basis. Now employers use time tracking apps, like Staff Timer, to monitor their employees’ work activities. With AI-enabled time monitoring software, employers can now get advanced intelligent reports that will let them know how much their employees are spending their time on each task, project, and window.
Conclusion
These are just some of the ways AI is helping businesses be more productive. It can be used in lots of other creative ways to boost efficiency and increase employee productivity.
