WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation

WHY IT MATTERS: this report from Stanford can be trusted as the reference. Last report was in 2019. Read section 2 for state of the art update. What comes out of the report IMHO is that AI remains and R&D subject so expect a lot of volatility. The number of patents increase points toward real world applications though. China is taking AI very seriously so our future may be driven by their priorities. There is a lot to read in there so I may report back after my weekend read...

WHY IT MATTERS: for those that still need stats to convince colleagues that #AI is here and useful.

WHY IT MATTERS: this list of technology questions for 2022 feels like an answer to the question "what is digital disruption?".

We have reached a moment in time where old technologies - eCommerce or videoconferencing for example - are finally breaking into established industries. And the impact, at scale, cannot be found in technology but rather in every single industry it disrupts.

Very thoughtful piece, very good questions.

WHY IT MATTERS: indeed a better place to start with autonomous electric vehicles appears to be a tractor in a field. And looking at John Deere over the past few years AI and big data are the way to go.

Other interesting articles: 

https://electrek.co/2022/01/04/john-deere-takes-a-step-into-the-future-with-first-fully-autonomous-tractor/ 

https://venturebeat.com/2022/01/07/how-john-deere-created-its-autonomous-tractor/

especially this one on the future of farming that includes other futuristic applications of AI and self driving.

https://www.deere.co.uk/en/agriculture/future-of-farming/

WHY IT MATTERS: the results from this McKinsey survey do not track what I see locally as I find adoption of AI to be very slow in many organizations. Thus I find the suggested benefits, cost decrease, etc. highly doubtful for most "normal" organizations (I assume very large global orgs may see benefits but not in my backyard). Nonetheless the paper does bring value such as the use cases where AI can be applied most readily.

WHY IT MATTERS: this report from gartner review the top 12 buzzword you need to master for your geek xmas cocktail conversations ;-) As often with these, they are very generic and could end up being very difficult to implement. Nevertheless they point in the right direction, globally.

WHY IT MATTERS: this tech trends is different than other "lists" in that it analyses a number of topics and provides useful data trends to understand the issues. Well done and very useful. I highlight the change in buying behaviour in the chart I extracted (buyers know what they want more than in the past but sellers have yet to adapt to this new normal) - but I guarantee the report has a bunch more. 

WHY IT MATTERS: an detailed study of the job market in artificial intelligence and machine learning in Montreal. Along with stats and definitions, it defines and details 19 job descriptions that are related to AI. A reference to keep.

WHY IT MATTERS: warning! this article is not about your typical "robots will rule retail" or "everything has to be AI driven unless you die". Well, in some parts it is.

The reality check that retailers - and their technology vendors - must make is: retail is difficult, focused on the bottom line, with no appetite for innovation with short term results. Retail innovators must find a way to experiment while staying focussed on the bottom line.

Best quote: "‘I think the majority of the problems come from the unwillingness, perhaps the fear, of investing in something that
doesn’t automatically bring a load of cash onto your balance sheet."

WHY IT MATTERS: a good overview, well presented of tech trends for executives. Beware: for long-term strategy discussions only!

WHY IT MATTERS: good article about the different experiments in AI recently.

WHY IT MATTERS: robots that learn from experience and not from past data is the subject of major improvements in manufacturing automation. Great overview in this short article. Points the way towards what we can expect in the future: AI that impacts the physical world, not just pages on a web browser or smart phone...

WHY IT MATTERS: to my surprise email remains a key tools in the digital marketing tool belt yet I remain surprise at the level of complexity that it requires *when done well*. Thus this report on key trends and best practices I find useful.

WHY IT MATTERS: technology is high on CEO radar of priorities as digital transformations shifts from front-office (web, social, search, all areas of the marketing CMO) to the back office (manufacturing, security, IOT, cloud, AI). CIOs play a role but many times they can't cut it so the CTO comes in. Could be a fundamental trend, or simply tunnel vision (it is an IBM survey after all ;-). Thanks to Sean Moffitt - Future Proofing Next guru! Many more insights in the full report.

WHY IT MATTERS: a bit geeky but this article explains quite well how memristors can become the basis for improve AI systems in the future.

WHY IT MATTERS: a great new overview of the digital transformation (my words), with fact-based data-full slides. I especially like everything about eCommerce in there which will become reference for me in coming months. I extracted just one striking illustration of the wide variation of eCommerce penetration depending on industry. This chart highlights how different the digital transformation strategies must be in the toys&games industry vs the grocery industry. Love it. Many more in the full presentation.

WHY IT MATTERS: a good article on the Metaverse as part of a series on new social media. Just in case you thought digital transformation was about to slow down.

Also: https://a16z.com/social-strikes-back

WHY IT MATTERS: fun to see these trends and realize there are technologies that can be applied today ... but many that we hear about in the news that are 10 years away ;-)

WHY IT MATTERS: this post is a bit theoretical for someone not bathing in digital transformation all day as I do (mostly). It explores what could come next but more importantly stresses an important fact: we now have a new platform - the mobile phone - in our pockets that has the potential to transform our world. We have started to see this with eCommerce - physical retail stores become irrelevant and we can price compare from anywhere - but we have yet to see the real impact of eCommerce+mobile+cloud+5G. THIS is what I think about most days...

WHY IT MATTERS: I was surprise to see that the retail industry has the highest potential to leverage AI. This report provides the insights and the analysis.

WHY IT MATTERS: the fact that China installs cameras with facial recognition is cause for concern and that is why cities such as San Francisco have banned their use. This data updates us on the quantity of cameras in China - and the fact that London is #3.

WHY IT MATTERS: AI and more specifically machine learning and deep learning skills are in high demand but it appears from this annual update that demand remains higher than supply.

WHY IT MATTERS: AI has been used in the past 3-4 years to generate fake images of people, create fake politicians and celebrity videos, and even generate people that never existed. It was only a question of time for the technology to be used to influence people, here in the context of US political campaign. Don't believe what you read, see and hear. Fact check EVERYTHING.

WHY IT MATTERS: a very good article on the current state of AI, as we move on the hype cycle from the "peak of inflated expectations" to the "through of disillusionment". No matter what, machine learning has already made possible what was impossible before: image analysis (but not yet understanding, as AI would require). Still, huge progress has been made and more to come.