Artificial intelligence is on the rise. From self-driving cars and drones to chatbots and virtual assistants, it’s projected that worldwide spending on AI systems will reach $57.6 billion in 2021. What’s the cause of so much growth? Well, nearly every industry can stand to gain something from the benefits of this technology. While accelerated for some by the current pandemic, we’ve seen recent innovations in healthcare, advancements in education, better customer service tactics in retail and more. The point is, the businesses adopting AI span all sectors. But who’s doing it the best? Below, we’re digging deeper into the top five industries using AI in 2021.
1. Retail and E-commerce
The retail and e-commerce sectors are perhaps the biggest proponents of customer service bots. The use of AI chatbots has been to improve the customer experience. In retail, this includes answering FAQs, addressing grievances, automating returns, price adjustments, etc. AI solutions can also make shopping feel more personal. Meaning, AI algorithms can help a company look into consumer demographics, social media impressions and more in order to tailor its strategy according to these insights. Numerically speaking, this could result in a 6 percent to 10 percent revenue increase.
Think of companies such as Stitch Fix, an online personal styling service that melds AI and human curation. Through a quiz on their website, they can assign users personal clothing options based on their own style, fit preferences and price range. Their website first collects data from the customer, then uses AI to analyze the report and a human stylist takes those insights to create a unique selection of clothing items. In a recent report, the company’s revenue increased to $409.4 million in the first quarter of 2021, which is a 10 percent increase from the same time last year.
2. Education
Since there were enforced lockdowns due to the coronavirus, many schools across the world turned to virtual instruction. Now, platforms such as Google Classroom are changing the way our educators teach. These learning management systems can organize the work of teachers and students, serve as a meeting space for parents and instructors, or even generate engagement between classmates. While physical classrooms might’ve implemented some of these technologies pre-pandemic, it’s likely that schools won’t return to their original format in 2021.
3. Healthcare and Medicine
The healthcare industry is undoubtedly the most innovative and forward-thinking of fields. In recent years, artificial intelligence has been used to improve the livelihood of doctors, surgeons, nurses and their patients. We’ve seen everything from faster recovery times, thanks to the assistance of robotics, to automated medical communication tools.
New York surgeon Dr. Philip Miller, for example, built Aesethi.bot to streamline the relationship between patient and practitioner. This AI chatbot is the first of its kind and can field common questions in addition to refilling prescriptions, scheduling appointments and creating new client leads for any aesthetics practice.
Dr. Miller explained, “The aesthetics industry tends to be at the forefront of tech innovation and improving and enhancing the patient experience. The general medical community may not be thinking about it at this point, but the aesthetics industry is. That’s why we built Aestheti.bot.”
This chatbot was also designed to be fully customizable to a physician’s practice in order to match things like tone of voice or a surgeon’s specific medical recommendations. The hope is that Aestheti.bot can free up time to focus more on what really matters, patient care.
4. Digital Marketing
Artificial intelligence algorithms have assisted savvy marketers in the extremely competitive world of advertising. This applies not only to execution and delivery but the creative process as well—altering the very way this industry normally operates.
The ultimate goal of industries such as digital marketing for using AI is to obtain insight into one’s target audience in order to build the most effective campaign. Historically, customer interactions required guesswork, but the use of AI provides clarity on the unknown by way of data. It is still, however, up to the company to create content that will connect with the consumer. By adopting AI for advertising, businesses stand to gain an increase in revenue while reducing costs and building their own competitive advantage.
5. Finance and Banking
Consumers and companies alike can benefit from AI banking solutions. These technologies include fraud detection, virtual assistants and task automation to streamline services. In short, what artificial intelligence is capable of doing for the finance and banking field extends far beyond just saving money. (Although, North American banks have the potential to save $70 billion by 2025.) It can also increase customer loyalty by providing 24/7 customer service, in addition to decreasing human error and reducing the number of mundane tasks.