How to Leverage Artificial Intelligence in Your Business

By now, most of us have heard about Artificial Intelligence (AI). Once the exclusive domain of science fiction and futuristic movies, it is now becoming prolific in many aspects of our society!

But do you understand what it is? Are you and your business prepared for AI and how are you leveraging it in your business today?

AI has been around and evolving since about 1956 and it is now advancing at a speed that is almost incomprehensible!

According to Ray Kurzweil, the speed of advancement of society today is accelerating exponentially. Furthermore, he asserts that the entire progress of the 20th century would have been achieved in only 20 years at the rate of advancement we saw in the year 2000. So, the rate of advancement in the year 2000 was 5 times as fast as the average in the entire previous century!

He believes that another 20th century’s worth of advancement happened between 2000 and 2014 and another will happen between 2014 and 2021! In a few decades after this, a 20th century’s worth of progress will take place multiple times in the same year and a decade later it will happen multiple times in the same month!

Basically, it boils down to the “Law of Accelerating Returns.” Kurzweil believes that the 21st century will see 1000 times the progress as the 20th century!

A big part of the changes and advancement that we will see will be both in Artificial Intelligence and made possible by Artificial Intelligence.

Current State

The diagram below comes from a webcast from Dr. Kai-Fu Lee and Peter Diamandis. They classify AI into “waves” and show the high-profile companies that are leveraging AI into the core of their business.

  • 1 – Internet AI
  • 2 – Business AI
  • 3 – Perception AI
  • 4 – Autonomous AI

Nothing Great Was Ever Built on Minimums!

I recently attended a conference in Anaheim, CA and one of the presenters, Earl McClellan, made a statement to the effect of “Nothing great is built on minimums!”

It took a minute or two for that to sink in . . .

My mind raced through business cases, famous start-ups, and concepts like Minimal Viable Products (MVPs from Eric Ries). There are so many examples of great movements and uber-successful businesses starting from precarious, humble, and minimalistic origins. So how could this statement be true?

However, after a few minutes of thought, I concluded that I agree with the statement and this is why!

6 D’s to Exponential Growth

Peter Diamandis knows about exponential growth and business success. He is a pioneer in the fields of innovation, commercial spaceflights, and incentive competitions. He is also the founder of the XPRIZE Foundation and Abundance 360!

So, when Diamandis speaks about business, innovation, or exponential growth, everyone should take note!

Recently, Diamandis published a brief newsletter outlining the “6-D’s” to exponential growth. These 6-Ds are the six main phases that an idea, product, or technology pass through on their way to making a massive culture impact.

For example, the following 6D technologies have had a huge impact on society: