Once only whispered in the corridors of technology futurists and visionary innovators, we now stand on the cusp of one of the most remarkable breakthroughs in the history of everything that we’ve known.

Leading global brands are predicting that AI will shape our lives in the years to come. Today, machine learning is employed in a wide variety of applications. From computational statistics – predicative computing – to email filtering and computer vision (an interdisciplinary scientific field that details how computers gain a high-level understanding of digital images or videos), even receipt scanning OCR, AI is evolving to become a paradigm of contemporary communication.

This evolution extends beyond merely commercial operations. AI is increasingly becoming a necessity within our personal lives too. Just look at the Internet of Things (IoT). Just look at the popularity of Amazon Echo and Alexa devices. Is it that unreasonable to assume that in less than a decade the practical application of AI will increase tenfold?

What’s becoming increasingly apparent in that AI isn’t going anywhere. In fact, it has the potential to shape our commercial – and personal – lives in the future. The Handelsblatt Al Summit in Munich.

Hosted on 21st – 22nd March in Munich, the Handelsblatt AI Summit attracted many of the world’s leading AI scientists and professors. Members of the prestigious Max Planck and Turing Institute, not to mention strategic players from large multi-national conglomerates, including IBM, Bosch, Siemens, and Alibaba convened in Munich to difficult the impact and potential implication of AI technology.

What was interesting about the discussions around AI technology, such as that’s prevalent in IoT and OCR receipt technology was the differing of opinions. However, after the summit, it was clear that AI has the potential to completely overhaul global commercial operations, revolutionize our everyday lives and that we’re just starting to experience the initial generations of what AI technology can do.

An Enduring Apprehension Waning?

What is, perhaps, unsurprising is that the Handelsblatt AI Summit discussed the enduring apprehension with the long-term implications of integrating AI technology our everyday and professional lives.

The fast-paced adoption of AI technology across a wealth of diverse sectors raised questions by summit participants, most prominently will AI jeopardize job security in the future, and will we be vying for commercial supremacy with machines in the future?

What’s clear is that there is a degree of trepidation over the rate that AI is advancing. However, it’s important to realize that as technology evolves so too do vocations. At the dawn of the industrial revolution, jobs and industries changed. We adapted to suit our changing landscape. This is likely to be the same if, or when, AI takes center stage.

The challenge for businesses is to devise ways to search for new talent skilled in implementing new intelligent technologies to businesses. For example, OCR receipt scanning technology with an advanced AI infrastructure will become invaluable in expense management in the future. Utilizing the expertise of these types of companies is paramount to ensuring a seamless evolution in commercial expense management.

Conglomerate Opinion

Summit attendees from IBM stated their belief that AI is set to be the next ‘mega trend’ which will significantly change the way that we work and live. Intelligent automation will help businesses boost their productivity and competitiveness, giving automated companies a significant advantage irrespective of sector.

Furthermore, Bosch AI experts emphasized how essential it is to apply humanism to technology design in today’s digital world. Founder of the company, Robert Bosch, once said, ‘technology is invented for life. All advances in the development of technology are, to the fullest extent, in the service to humanity. This technique is designed to give the whole of humanity a maximum of life and well-being.’

It’s clear that the ethos set forth by Robert Bosch is still being applied today. Advocates believe that the creation of AI, be it in the Internet of Things (IoT) or integrated into superior receipt scanning OCR, will improve our lives.

The Summit Takeaway

When all was said and done, the key takeaway from the summit was that AI technology will become indispensable to humans, AI must be reliable, trusted and well-implemented. If completed in this manner and scaled across an entire commercial organisation, the benefits could well be expansive.

What is, perhaps, most noticeable is that 42% of companies say that they lack the talent to fully implement AI into their processes. 43% say that they don’t have a defined strategy to implement AI.
This statistic highlights that companies in the UAE – and across the globe – must invest in AI talent, such as finding an exemplary OCR receipt scanning software provider if they want to grow their enterprise in the coming months and years.