While AI hasn’t reached its full potential or its eventual impact yet, AI is making good progress in many directions simultaneously. Let’s examine some of the progress to date. While I’m sure that AI is adding value, I’m also sure there is more progress that is not visible yet as it is in the labs or being pioneered in several scientific avenues. Let’s look at the value add of AI to date.

Turning Data into Knowledge:

AI is contributing to digesting large amounts of fast or slow data to create information or knowledge to assist the contextual situation, and resources accomplishing work. Work resources are only as useful as the knowledge they are provided to make decisions and take action. AI is playing a substantial role in assisting and can accelerate learning to suggest where to direct current and future actions.

Problem Recognition:

AI can sense various signals at the edge, or not, and recognize patterns. These patterns can represent emerging issues or problems. These patterns can be associated with well understood and prepared scenarios ahead of time so that AI can recognize the presence of threats or opportunities. Also, AI can find new and emerging scenarios and bring them to the attention of the right resources for decisions and possible actions.

Taking Actions:

Once appropriate actions are selected, AI can help with appropriate responses by human, software or physical bots. By leveraging natural language, humans can kick off actions that are either pre-packaged and sequenced or parallel and emergent. Sophisticated AI Agents or Bots will bid on tasks that are necessary to complete organizational outcomes within governance constraints.

Net; Net:

Because AI is showing progress, it will not likely fall into another AI Winter (see https://jimsinur.blogspot.com/2018/02/no-more-ai-winters-really.html). Keep in mind that it is still early, and AI has a long way to go before it can reason, solve complex problems alone or learn enough to plan by itself. To end, AI is likely to partner up with other non-AI algorithms to take these areas of need down the road. AI will partner with data science platforms, automation platforms, and customer-centric platforms to help with next best actions. Spring will eventually lead to a full bloom summer and the fruits of a full AI harvest.

Jim Sinur is an independent thought leader in applying Digital Business Platforms (DBP), Customer Experience/Journeys (CJM), Business Process Management (BPM), Automation (RPA), Low-code and Decision Management at the edge to business outcomes. His research and areas of personal experience focus on intelligent business processes, business modeling, business process management technologies, process collaboration for knowledge workers, process intelligence/optimization, AI applied to business policy/rule management, IoT and leveraging business applications in processes. Jim is also one of the authors of BPM: The Next Wave. His latest book is Digital Transformation. Innovate or Die Slowly. Jim is also a well know digital and traditional artist.

So How Goes That AI Spring?