Rise of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in 2019

The era of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, 2019, is almost here, and industries are expected to leverage further the new age technologies into their businesses to derive operational benefits. Mr Sandeep Parikh, Intelligent Automation Partner at EY talks about hoe AI and ML will be utilized in India, some advancement and use cases of the same and investments made into the technology.

1. How do you see the rise of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning and to what maturity do you think the tech has reached in India?

a . Over the past several months service providers (baring a few) have rushed to market with a wide range of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning based home-grown solution. However, there is (by and large) a lack of awareness in the market place of how to apply these technologies in the real world to generate a relevant and lasting impact. So I believe, 2019 will see providers, build stronger capability, focus on relevant real industry scenarios and hence success stories.

b. There is still some time to go in terms of creating concrete and end-to-end true differentiation using cognitive solutions – while we have seen some interesting pieces in operations, FS front offices, finance, HR and marketing where ML has potentially created small but real impact e.g. Bank front office services, chatbot based helpdesks, bank reconciliations, revenue assurance, social listening, however, such case are few and far in between. So we are on the right trajectory and have a lot of ground still to cover.

2. What other advancements or use-cases can it be further used into?

a. These technologies are beginning to disrupt the way humans evolve. Amongst several other areas there are a lot of exciting developments in healthcare specifically related to human biology (gene editing, disease prediction and resolution, customized medicines etc.), neurosciences and manufacturing – new material development coupled with 3D printing. Another hot area is around redefining end customer experiences in the BFSI sector and Retail.

3. In terms of investments, could you quantify the total number of investments that has gone into the tech individually from tech giants and startups (attracted investments from VCs, PE, funds or angel investors) as groups? And will 2019 see a similar pace of investment or interest in the technology?

a. FinTech world alone saw investments to the tune of over $3 billion this year which is a high double digit growth over the last.

b. This trend will most certainly continue into 2019 and could accelerate if we have real end to end solutions that can generate real outcomes and benefits for customers.