Artificial intelligence is making inroads in the classroom and the home, and it’s transforming the way we live. It’s also changing how we work, with retail, fleet management, healthcare, gaming and the automotive world accounting for just a few of the industries where AI-powered gadgets are improving the human experience.
Retail
If you’re like the vast majority of consumers, you have done some online shopping, and you’ve probably noticed examples of targeted advertising that can be surprisingly accurate at understanding your likes and tastes.
This is but one small part of how AI is changing the retail industry, but it’s a significant one.
What if instead of using your card for a contactless purchase, your mobile device or another gadget did everything for you when you walked into a retail establishment, allowing you to pick up the items you want and exit the store without stopping anywhere?
This has already been trialed by a few retailers and could become more common in the future. You wouldn’t be charged until you exited the premises, so you would still be free to browse and pick up items as much as you liked.
Fleet Management
If you are looking for a gadget that helps drivers practice safe driving habits, AI dash cams may be the answer. They offer real-time incident detection and preventative in-cab coaching, and they have been proven to protect drivers and lower costs.
Fleet management is one of the areas where AI is poised to make many changes because of the large amount of data it can gather and interpret. This can result in better driver practices and performances. It can also help companies better track vehicle maintenance needs.
Healthcare
Healthcare is another area where the impact of AI is making big changes. Wearables are one of the most popular innovations.
For example, one way that physicians diagnose Alzheimer’s disease is by looking at a patient’s walk. Now, there is the option of using sensors to detect step disruptions that could indicate a problem.
Other wearables that use AI to measure various vital signs are under development or slowly coming into use.
These devices can also be used to monitor patients who have a chronic condition as an alternative to having them frequently visit a doctor’s office for testing.
Gaming
The gaming industry is growing at a fast rate all over the world. The use of AI in gaming means that characters not played by other humans, known as non-playing characters or NPCs, act in increasingly human ways.
While some people may think of AI in games as being designed to beat human players, as in chess, its function when it comes to NPCs and most other aspects of gaming is to enhance the player’s experience and make the world seem more immersive.
Automobiles
The idea of self-driving vehicles tends to elicit one of two reactions from people.
Some people are horrified by the idea, either because they do not trust machines to do the task or because they do not want to give up the freedom of operating a vehicle themselves.
Others eagerly await what is supposed to be a safer form of transportation.
Despite optimistic predictions, truly autonomous vehicles are still some distance in the future, but the same technology is already leading to more automated safety features in vehicles.
