Industry is heading inexorably toward AI, expert says

(Oct. 2024) Finance and healthcare are two industries that are already starting to see a return on their investment in AI, says a leading scientist in the field, along with oil and gas, aluminum, and shipping.

But industries don't have much time to kick-start their AI research.

“Whatever is available for you and your partners, you have to use it,” says Dr. Jassim Haji, President of the International Group of Artificial Intelligence. “And you have to be able to transform immediately.”

Dr. Haji concedes that people have had high hopes about artificial intelligence and the intelligent transformation of industry since the 1960s. “AI has had two winters when people stopped investing in it,” he acknowledges.

But at that time, AI was being tested in labs and universities. Today, he says, the progress of AI in industry is irreversible.

“You can't take away a solution that you’ve given to your employees and your customers and say, ‘Well, we have to stop there.’ There’s no going back.”