As artificial intelligence continues its advance, the list of its applications will grow. In 2019, expect to see AI used by many more companies and consumers. Below are some areas in which AI will expand in the coming year.
More advanced AI assistants
AI assistants are a staple in the homes of many. Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri and Google Home are already fairly advanced AI assistants that can play music, turn off your home lights and tell you the weather. Seventy-one percent of people who own a smart-speaker have stated that they use it once a day. Forty-four percent have said they use it multiple times in a day. In 2019, these devices will become even more prevalent, and you’ll begin to see them incorporated in more ways in your home and workplace. They’ll also be able to do more advanced tasks and may be able to recognize individual voices.
AI-powered search
Search engines will soon become more conversational and more AI-powered. The way answers are given to users will become more advanced. Search engines will do more than just provide you with a list of results; they’ll soon be able to ask you follow-up questions about your search. For example, instead of typing “homes for sale near me,” you could ask “what homes are for sale near me for under $200,000?” Then, the search engine could ask you how many bedrooms you’re looking for and what neighborhood you would prefer to live in. This means you’ll be able to find the exact results you’re looking for without having to dig through pages of results.
AI recruiting tools
Recruiting new employees for your business is a stressful and time-consuming task. However, advancements in artificial intelligence mean AI may soon be able to handle the task for you. One such service, Mya, is leading the way in this field. Mya is a chatbot that can talk with job candidates through email, text or Skype. The service can be used to screen employees to determine who meets the qualifications and can reject the candidates that don’t.
Better conversational chatbots
While chatbots can already hold conversations and perform tasks, expect them to become even more advanced in 2019. They’ll likely to be able to imitate humans fully, and a conversation with a chatbot will differ very little than a chat with a human representative. A variety of companies will adopt the use of conversational chatbots to service smaller customer needs and reserve the human representatives for more pressing issues.
Smart appliances
Many people already have some form of a smart appliance in their home, like lights controlled through a voice-activated device or a smart fridge that can stream music and videos. But, smart appliances will start to get smarter in the coming year. Soon, you may be able to share a recipe with your smart stove, and it will adjust the temperature to the perfect setting for you. If you cook the same meal every Sunday at 5 p.m., after a few weeks, the stove will start heating up at that time without you doing anything.
Smart grids
Electricity grids used to be simple pipes through which electricity flowed from the producer to consumer. Over time, they’ve become smart which has made them able to manage the balance of the grid. Smart grids have sensors that gather and transmit data, which makes them able to adjust electricity flows automatically. These new grids will be able to prevent power failures and blackouts, and could turn on home appliances when more electricity is available, saving consumers money. Smart grids are flexible, accessible, reliable and save money. While this technology is new, within several years, many homes will be fitted with smart meters.