Gartner research has found that the number of companies employing artificial intelligence (AI) has grown 270% over the past four years and will continue to grow into 2020 and beyond. It’s little wonder this is the case - AI infuses intelligence and predictive capabilities that drive smarter, action-based decisions - which leads to a more efficient, more profitable, more customer-focused business. 

So, what can business expect from AI in the year ahead?
 
AI will help companies understand causality
 
One of the challenges of complex decision making is to definitively understand causality - in other words how one event or a series of events will cause an outcome. 

When we look at decision making in retail, historically the approach has been to rely on correlations in historical data and make assumptions. For example, you may look to last year’s promotions, replicate them again this year, and expect the same results. When the result varies year on year you’re left wondering why. The problem is that this approach relies on flawed information and assumes a causal relationship when there isn’t one. 

Because AI can mine and interpret significantly more data than the human brain, Ai enables us to better understand causality which leads to more predictable decision making. As an example, despite assumptions that targeting loyal shoppers through promotions makes sense, AI reveals that retailers are better off targeting casual shoppers rather than loyal customers through promotions. By determining exactly who to target and what will cause them to convert, AI can optimise promotions to maximise profitability and avoid chipping away at the margin on sales that loyal customers would have made anyway. 
 
AI will drive the need for more jobs, not less

When computers were first invented, people thought the office worker function would die as a result. But 60+ years later, that isn’t the case. The same is true of AI. As AI adoption grows, there will be a need for more jobs not less, especially in data science. The need for humans to build, steer and monitor AI-based systems will continue. 
 
AI will get a seat at the table

While AI adoption is definitely growing, it is still widely seen as an exciting new frontier outside of core business. This will change as leaders with business acumen and technical AI knowledge, who understand that AI is crucial to execute on strategy, drive AI initiatives forward. Trust at the executive level is still the biggest roadblock to AI adoption, so it will require a change management process. 

AI will drive sustainability

The sustainability challenge grows more complex every day and most companies aren’t keeping up with customer expectations in this area. 

By leveraging AI algorithms, companies can measure their environmental and social impact, and optimise operations for sustainability. By reducing waste and resource consumption, and creating more efficient production and transportation strategies, companies can operate more responsibly and profitably. 
   
AI will optimise the supply chain ecosystem

If AI is integrated horizontally across the company and its suppliers, it allows for better planning on both sides. For example, if the supplier knows what the retailer will order and vice versa, you will avoid having too much safety stock. This is a win win for a company and its suppliers - and ultimately the customer. 
 
AI will drive fairness and ultimately build a better, more diverse world

Unlike human decisions which are inherently biased, AI can be free of bias and therefore can make fairer decisions. While AI systems can have the same prejudice as humans if they are trained that way, once this is recognised it can be rectified. For example, Google’s facial recognition software initially recognised Caucasian faces better than other races simply because that is what it was mainly trained on and therefore learned. Once discovered, researchers were able to develop algorithms to make machine decisions fair even if the data it trained from was unfair. I believe these algorithms will ultimately be used as a way to fight discrimination and ultimately, build a better, more diverse world.

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