One of the questions I get asked the most, especially when speaking at conferences is a version of the following: I am not Google or Facebook or Tencent or Alibaba. So what can AI do for me? The implied follow-up question is that given we know AI is driven by data and these organizations have… Continue reading Why AI value comes from industry-specific applications
A simple way to look at the AI opportunity
I have a slide I use a lot at the moment in presentations and it looks like this: It offers a simple - but hopefully not simplistic - way of looking at the opportunity AI and machine learning presents us in the overall framework of automation. When I present, the three elements in the slide… Continue reading A simple way to look at the AI opportunity
Autumn 2019 speaking gig themes
I'm always grateful when people ask me to speak at their events - it's a privilege never to be taken for granted that people are willing to spend their valuable time listening to what I have to say. But I thought it might be useful for some to know the themes of my talks through the… Continue reading Autumn 2019 speaking gig themes
AI infrastructure – are you ready?
The core of machine learning is mathematical computations that, for most enterprises, are unprecedented in both complexity and volume. These workloads increasingly require high-performance or application-specific infrastructure to ensure AI systems can be built and deployed quickly. Therefore, the development and deployment of machine learning models requires infrastructure that is fast, scalable, dynamic and cost-effective.… Continue reading AI infrastructure – are you ready?
AI platforms arriving soon
AI is an omni-purpose technology that can bring improvements in efficiency and insights to almost any business process. But through my qualitative and quantitive research and conversations with practitioners, I've found that the use cases for AI and machine learning get very industry-specific, very quickly. That’s because they are driven by data and each company's… Continue reading AI platforms arriving soon
At 451 Research, we’ve got AI & machine learning covered (part 2)
In May last year I pointed out the huge breadth and depth of research coverage of machine learning we have here at 451 Research. It's time to update that, using the 'further reading' list from our recently-published annual report, The Current and Future State of AI and Machine Learning 2019. I started covering machine learning in… Continue reading At 451 Research, we’ve got AI & machine learning covered (part 2)
Microsoft-OpenAI partnership is a big deal for AI development
Today Microsoft and OpenAI announced a multi-year partnership, including a $1bn investment by Microsoft in OpenAI, a prominent AI research organization. OpenAI was founded in 2015 by Elon Musk and Sam Altman, founded with the goal of developing Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) for the common good with $1bn in backing from prominent Silicon Valley figures including… Continue reading Microsoft-OpenAI partnership is a big deal for AI development
Unstructured data redux
I've always been intrigued by the problem and opportunities around unstructured data. Why? Because computers weren't originally designed to handle it and yet it is the way we human beings communicate. We don't communicate in structured data that fits into rows and columns of a relational database. We communicate in words, but also increasingly in… Continue reading Unstructured data redux
The story behind the ‘451’ name
The name of our company was inspired by the science-fiction novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, originally published in 1953. The idea for the company name itself was thought up by Simon Carruthers - one of the four founders of the company, along with John Abbott, William Fellows and myself - in a pub we… Continue reading The story behind the ‘451’ name
AI use cases in four key industries
AI and machine learning should not be an end in itself for organizations; it should be adopted for sound business reasons. And as an omni-use technology, we see that happening in all sorts of industries and use cases - from agriculture to space exploration. But as it begins to be adopted we see the use… Continue reading AI use cases in four key industries