AI Might Be the Future. But Can It Also Predict it?

We all know that artificial intelligence has been the hot topic of recent times and that it has been adopted by companies covering virtually every sector. So these days, when you're dealing with an automated answering service, it's highly likely that there is no human intervention at all.

This trend is set to continue and reach into many new areas. But there are even more exciting prospects ahead that suggest that the algorithms used in AI may soon start to enable increasingly accurate predictions of future events. Indeed, this is something that has also started to occur – and in some quite surprising ways.

The theory behind it is quite simple: by combining the processing of big datasets and using the algorithms that drive AI, an ever-more accurate model of future events can be created.

One of the leading exponents in this reasonably new field is Black Swan Technologies whose clients include Disney. Among the work they have carried out for the entertainment giant was predicting the likely popularity of Frozen before release. By looking at the data around similar animated titles as well as examining popular genres and types of film on YouTube it enabled them to accurately gauge even how many copies would be sold once the movie was released on DVD.

Retailers have also been quick to start experimenting with Black Swan's technology with supermarkets using it to project just when and how many of their customers will be choosing to barbecue on any given weekend.

"Western Canada Fashion Week 2017 Spring" (CC BY-SA 2.0) by IQRemix

The fashion industry is also one that is always looking towards what are going to be the trends for future seasons. Again, AI is being used to help these predictions to become more accurate. This is facilitated by a system that scours social media and e-commerce sites to analyze colors, sizes and patterns that appear most frequently and which may be pointing towards the direction that styles may be headed.

On a less frivolous note, healthcare is another sector in which the ability to predict future situations is being trialed. One of the best-known exponents is Diagnostic Robotics, a business founded and headed up by Kira Radinsky Ph.D. with offices in Tel Aviv and New York. The fact that much of medicine is already so heavily statistics-based is obviously useful, but it needs AI to add that extra dimension.

Trading in stocks, shares and currencies is another area in which being able to accurately predict the future can also mean the difference between success and failure. More and more trading platforms appearing and being listed on sites like Stockapps UK. There is already plenty of choice and most offer extensive support. The above site rates the platforms according to a vast array of key features, such as commission or products offered, such as CFD trading. It's therefore logical to imagine that one day AI support could number among those factors. This would obviously give an edge over the competition – it could well take many providers to the next level.

So we can confidently predict that AI will become increasingly effective in defining what the future holds in a wide variety of ways. And, when it does reach its full potential, it will create a very different world indeed.