What to expect from Artificial Intelligence in 2020?

At the end of 2019 we launched our new Twitter campaign, #LUCAtothefuture to explore various Artificial Intelligence technologies to see how they will advance this year and beyond. It is not hard to predict that 2020 will be a big year for AI, just as previous years have been. AI was accepted as a necessity by many industries in 2019 but we are starting to see its incorporation into every area of our lives.

AI is no longer a disruptive technology, but instead the basis for success.

In 2020 we will see AI start to become prevalent not only in the business world but also in our day to day lives, if it hasn’t already. On our poll on Twitter, we asked you to rank the fields in which you would like to see developments in Artificial Intelligence:

Telemedicine

Telemedicine refers to the practice of caring for patients remotely using using various connected services. The term is also used to refer to the use of advanced AI and Machine learning software to diagnose diseases. Telemedicine is vital to provide quick diagnosis and treatment when face-to-face communication is not available. Just a few days ago, Googles DeepMind AI software was able to identify breast cancer more accurately than radiologists proving that doctors must start incorporating these Artificial Intelligence technologies into their practices. Companies like Gyant are developing an AI medical chatbot which, with the use of patients records, can provide appropriate care advice with very good results (patient satisfaction rate 4.9 stars).

What should we expect in 2020?

• Telemedicine reaching more vulnerable communities, replacing in person visits
• Wider use of video conferencing in developed countries
• Improvement of AI medical advice chatbots
• Introduction of virtual chronic disease management with the development of hospital-at-home devices.

Delivery Drones

Whilst military spending will probably remain the main contributor to drone spending, many diverse industries are beginning to realise the usefulness of IOT drones, from stock management, to photography to pizza delivery. Delivery drones, also referred to as UAVs (Unmanned Ariel vehicles,) are disrupting the logistics market and replacing traditional transport methods. The technology can also be used to transport medicine and supplies to dangerous areas. Amazon announced at its AI conference in June 2019 that drone deliveries would increase the efficiency of its delivery service enormously and that they expect to roll out Amazon Air fully in 2020. We should expect other major companies to follow closely behind.

What should we expect in 2020?

• Wide use of delivery drones by big companies to deliver packages to homes, particularly in the US
• Improvement in drones’ range to reach remote areas
• Increased regulatory scrutiny

Autonomous vehicles

We’ve been expecting the release of autonomous cars for many years now, but how close are we to it becoming a reality?

The technology is thus far restricted to specific manoeuvres such as steering, acceleration and deceleration and any other automation of vehicles can only be conducted on closed campuses. The main obstacle to many companies is improving the accuracy of perception systems, allowing vehicles to understand its environment.

Tesla this year acquired a specific object identification AI start-up called Deep Scale to help move from level 2 automation to level 3 where vehicles are completely responsible for monitoring the driving environment. Elon musk commented that their cars are “able to drive from one’s house to work, most likely without interventions, but with supervision.

What should we expect in 2020?

• Increase in testing hours to develop perception machine learning systems.
• Development from level 2 automation (Vehicle assistance automation) to level 3 and 4 (self-driving vehicles)
• Increased discussion of liability issues

Robotic assistants, physical and virtual  

Although some Sci-fi films in the last 20 years have presented their negative vision of robotics, in reality, robotic assistanc in both physical and virtual terms can help us in many areas of our lives.

Japan have announced that robots will play a major role in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics; some will be used to collect and distribute sporting equipment; others will allow individuals to attend the event virtually.

Over recent years we have started to see the incorporation of AI powered smart speakers into our homes all primarily voice activated. Also, AI chatbots are improving customer experiences for many industries. This delivers quick and intelligent responses, reducing the workload for customer service handlers. Telefónica, whose Artificial Intelligence, Aura, is present in 8 countries with more than 1,300 use cases, offers personalized and immediate responses to its customers within their homes.

The area of robotics is growing at an exceptional rate, becoming more intelligent every day but companies are mainly relying on Artificial Narrow intelligence to perform specific tasks. Whilst Artificial general Intelligence remains in its infancy, some experts believe we are still at least 50 years away from human-like robotics.

What should we expect in 2020?

• Increased focus on Artificial General Intelligence
• Development of physical home assistants by Big Tech to perform routine tasks
• Workplace digital assistants to perform routine tasks
• 50% of searches performed with voice
• Intelligent chatbots assiting customer service roles

The next decade promises exciting things for the development of AI, in all industries and in every part of our lives. Follow us on Twitter to make sure you don’t miss anything our series of #LUCAtothefuture. We will also be exploring the ethical issues which accompany the development of many of these technologies.

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