The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has become difficult to ignore. Countless organizations across industries are embracing the technology to improve their operations and processes, gain better insights, and drive new revenue opportunities. Business decisions that were once made based only on human intelligence can now be informed by AI.
How does AI impact decision-making? The short answer is that AI can impact decision-making profoundly, even when used in small, subtle ways. It has numerous applications, and while the technology presents challenges, many organizations have already achieved great success using it.
What is AI, and how can it inform decision-making?
AI can analyze large data sets, learn from them, and make predictions or decisions based on that data. AI can be used in almost any field, including healthcare, finance, transportation, and more. It can help diagnose diseases, predict fraud, improve crop yield, and even enhance the user experience in various applications.
AI provides insights into data that humans may not easily see. By analyzing large data sets and finding patterns, AI can help businesses improve their operations and processes. For instance, AI can identify customer behavior patterns that a business can use to personalize its marketing campaigns and improve its customer experience. Similarly, AI can help a business predict demand for its products, allowing it to optimize its inventory levels and avoid stockouts or overstocking.
[ Also read Artificial intelligence and video: 3 business benefits. ]
Another critical way AI can impact decision-making is by automating specific tasks. These tasks are often time-consuming and may not lead to the best decisions when they’re performed by humans. AI can make decisions more quickly and accurately than humans by automating certain processes. For example, airlines can optimize ticket prices using AI to analyze demand, competition, and other factors in real time, leading to more efficient pricing decisions.
What decision-making challenges does AI pose?
AI’s potential to revolutionize decision-making is not without challenges. For example, to make accurate predictions, AI systems require vast quantities of information, and not all organizations have access to the necessary data. Data quality is also crucial for AI’s success. Data must be accurate, complete, and free from bias to avoid misleading predictions and decisions.
Another challenge is the need for skilled professionals to develop, implement, and maintain AI systems. Data scientists, developers, and engineers with specialized skills are in high demand, and there is a significant shortage of talent. In some cases, companies are using AI tools and services provided by tech giants to fill the gap. However, this approach can limit a company’s ability to innovate and differentiate itself from competitors.
Moreover, AI raises important ethical concerns around privacy and bias. As AI systems become more sophisticated, they may gain access to sensitive information, raising concerns about how that information will be used and protected. AI systems may also perpetuate bias and discrimination if they are built using biased data.
To mitigate these concerns, organizations must be transparent about their use of AI, ensure that data is collected and used ethically and responsibly, and implement rigorous testing and monitoring processes to identify and correct any biases that may arise.
How are organizations using AI for decision-making?
Despite these challenges, many organizations are successfully using AI for decision-making. For example, Theresa Johnson, a data scientist at Airbnb, sees AI as a subset of data science that focuses on longer-term issues. Johnson’s team is building analytics products that address questions such as “What should search look like in a world without full-size screens?” and “How can we predict the accessibility needs of users not on our platform yet?” By using AI to surface the best possible properties for a user while also rewarding valued hosts, Airbnb can optimize search results and offer personalized recommendations.
Also in the travel and tourism space, global travel management company CWT has introduced AI chatbots that can help answer questions for travelers. It is also working on more advanced bots that can make proactive itinerary recommendations. CWT has also started a variety of predictive analytics projects, including a platform that can very accurately predict the likelihood of travel delays or cancellations.
In the aviation industry, Air Canada is harnessing AI to improve forecasting and decision-making. Lucio Bustillo, a science and innovation manager in revenue management, says, “AI and advanced analytics empowers teams to make better decisions and boosts productivity. It also allows them to leverage unprecedented amounts of data to paint a rich picture of our customers and our environment.”
Air Canada believes that AI technologies can enhance the travel industry by increasing operational efficiency. This, in turn, will lead to cost reductions and preference optimizations that will eventually benefit the end consumer.
What does it take to successfully implement AI for decision-making?
To implement AI for decision-making, organizations need a modern data infrastructure to support new data types and often massive amounts of data. Many organizations are moving to the cloud for data management and making use of data engineers and newer pipeline tools to help integrate data and make sure it is trustworthy.
They are also hiring DevOps teams to deploy models and monitor them in production. According to a TDWI Best Practices Report, 67 percent of organizations deploying AI technologies today state that AI projects are built by data scientists and are deployed into production by DevOps teams.
Some organizations are also using augmented intelligence applications, where AI is infused into the software to automate functionality, such as data cleansing, deriving insights, or building predictive models.
In addition to hiring specialists, organizations must also encourage all employees to build excitement and trust. It is essential to involve stakeholders in the design and implementation of AI systems to ensure that they understand how the systems work and are comfortable using them.
Looking forward
AI has enormous potential to transform decision-making across various industries. The technology can automate decision-making processes, analyze large data sets, and provide insights that humans may be unable to see. However, implementing AI for decision-making poses challenges, including access to accurate and unbiased data, the need for skilled professionals to develop and maintain AI systems, and ethical concerns surrounding privacy and bias.
Despite these challenges, many organizations have successfully implemented AI for decision-making and are seeing benefits in terms of improved efficiency, cost savings, and enhanced customer experiences. To tap the decision-making potential of AI, organizations need to have modern data infrastructure, hire specialized professionals, involve stakeholders in the design and implementation process, and ultimately get all employees involved.
As the use of AI for decision-making continues to evolve and mature, organizations should stay informed about the latest developments and explore new use cases for the technology. Furthermore, companies must prioritize ethical considerations when implementing AI and establish best practices for the collection and use of data. Taking these steps will help your organization fully realize the benefits of AI for decision-making while mitigating any associated risks.
[ Check out our primer on 10 key artificial intelligence terms for IT and business leaders: Cheat sheet: AI glossary. ]
