AI flooded the headlines of every media outlet with the breakthrough of ChatGPT technology and image-generation tools like Dall-E in 2022. Since then, even those previously reluctant to adopt this technology have had to take notice. The potential of artificial intelligence for the business world is now more apparent than ever, and various business applications for artificial intelligence are now accessible to organizations of all sizes and industries.
While it may seem that artificial intelligence and machine learning in business have only recently become mature enough to take advantage of, this technology has been propelling businesses forward for at least a decade now.
From Netflix personalization systems to voice assistants like Alexa to automated trading bots to manufacturing quality assurance systems, AI has allowed companies to streamline workflows, automate processes, enhance decision-making, and even create new business models.
In this article, we will discuss the top AI business use cases in 2023 that cover major processes and application areas, from customer service to operations and marketing.
Recommendation engines
AI-based recommendation engines remain one of the most popular AI applications for businesses, including E-commerce and retail. These tools allow retail stores and various online businesses to provide customers with personalized recommendations based on customers’ profiles, browsing behaviors, and past purchases.
For example, Netflix helps consumers narrow down their choices for TV shows, while Amazon suggests items that have the highest probability of being purchased by customers.
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Chatbots and virtual assistants
If you’ve ever shopped online, there is almost no chance you haven’t interacted with a chatbot or virtual assistant. This application of artificial intelligence in business has proven to be an exceptionally efficient customer service tool, capable of handling basic customer inquiries without human involvement, allowing companies to save resources and increase customer satisfaction.
Similarly, AI-driven virtual assistants are becoming the norm in many households worldwide. For example, Siri and Alexa help people with basic daily tasks, such as setting reminders, playing music, and providing news updates.
Copywriting
Regardless of your industry, text remains one of the most essential forms of communication. Whether it’s a blog post, landing page, product description, email campaign, or any other marketing material, AI-powered copywriting tools can cut the time needed to produce a compelling copy and help brainstorm ideas. While there is an abundance of AI-based copywriting software on the market, the most popular ones are ChatGPT and Jasper.
Anomaly detection
Anomaly detection is an established concept that organizations in a range of industries use to combat fraud, detect equipment failure and security breaches, identify possible medical conditions, and more. Conventionally, these systems are rule-based, meaning that they alert relevant stakeholders about anomalies when specific parameters go above or below a certain threshold. While instrumental to many businesses, these systems prompt businesses to deal with issues after the fact.
AI-powered anomaly detection systems, on the other hand, allow organizations to preemptively identify potential threats and respond to them before they escalate by constantly monitoring data like transaction logs in banking or equipment sensor readings in manufacturing.
Design and product development
Many companies in supply chain, manufacturing, and retail use AI to come up with new product designs and enhance their quality assurance processes. For example, computer vision-based tools help manufacturers automate quality assurance processes, ensuring the highest quality of every product leaving the facility.
Consumer electronics firms, industrial equipment manufacturers, automotive companies, and organizations in other industries use AI-based design tools to generate hundreds of unconventional yet effective design solutions much faster than when using manual methods.
Supply chain and transportation
Being able to analyze vast amounts of data about weather and traffic conditions in real-time, AI-based systems for transportation can help supply chain companies choose the most optimal routes, cut delivery times, and reduce transportation costs.
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Similarly, such AI business applications assist airlines and other transportation companies with flight scheduling or ticket pricing based on current market conditions, seasonality, and historical data. Moreover, such artificial intelligence business strategies and applications can optimize warehouse operations and accurately forecast demand to ensure that the right amount of inventory is always in stock.
Business intelligence
In this day and age, the absolute majority of industry leaders use data to make both long- and short-term decisions. Companies in various industries already have vast amounts of data about their employees, operations, customers, and other aspects of their businesses.
With the help of the application of AI in business intelligence, companies can now identify new revenue streams and forecast market demands. Most popular BI tools like SAP have AI-powered capabilities, allowing everyone from executives to managers to shop-floor employees to make more informed decisions.
Human resources
With the increasing access to AI for decision-making, business strategies, and applications, HR professionals have been quick to capitalize on the power of AI-driven tools. In this context, AI allows HR managers to focus on more cognitively demanding tasks like candidate interviewing or training while automating manual activities like data entry and document processing.
Moreover, AI-driven tools help HR departments automate the recruitment process by quickly narrowing down a large pool of applicants to only those that match a company’s skillset requirements. Similarly, AI-driven systems can identify training needs among employees and recommend suitable courses based on their individual experiences and qualifications.
Legal
Companies in finance, healthcare, and other highly regulated industries often spend inordinate amounts of resources on compliance. Organizations often struggle to keep up with constantly changing regulations and policies, exposing themselves to financial and reputational risks.
Data anonymization
As the amount of data continues to expand, so does the need for robust compliance mechanisms to ensure data privacy. AI offers a way for businesses to get reliable insights from large volumes of data without ever identifying the real people behind those customer profiles.
For example, AI-powered data anonymization tools can analyze a set of images of humans, obtain insights about their important features like age and gender, and then obscure distinctive characteristics that can reveal the individual identities of those people. This way, companies can get valuable insights about their target audience without compromising the privacy of their customers.
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Cybersecurity
Some of the most popular AI applications in business revolve around cybersecurity. AI-based cybersecurity platforms usually constantly monitor and analyze data within an organization’s network to detect potential threats and help protect the system from malicious attacks.
While AI has always held great potential in this field, its application has become truly value-adding with the recent advancements in cloud computing. Modern AI-powered cybersecurity systems can stay on top of the ever-changing landscape of cybersecurity threats and adapt to novel network incursion, phishing, or any other malicious activity.
What’s next?
As we venture further into the digital era, the integration of artificial intelligence in diverse industries will continue to evolve and expand. These advancements will inevitably bring forth novel artificial intelligence business applications and solutions not yet conceptualized.
Such progression will redefine how businesses currently operate and unveil untapped potential and unprecedented opportunities for growth and innovation. It is, therefore, in the interest of every business, irrespective of its size or sector, to embrace this AI revolution, adapt, and evolve. The transformative power of artificial intelligence for business applications is here to reshape our future, and those ready to ride this wave will be the ones to thrive in the times to come.
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