The Big Tech Bang (part 1): When AI, 5G and iOT collide

By Miguel Alvarez, Director of Technology Services at AnalogFolk

Artificial Intelligence, 5G and iOT (Internet of Things) are all enjoying great momentum in both business and public conscious right now. And that powerful drive is spearheading growth in respective fields, fueling investment and increasing the number of specialised practitioners.

This era is great for specialised vendors, but not for businesses. In spite of the added impetus, AI, 5G and iOT currently exist in silos, rarely interacting with each other. There is a real lack of understanding about how they all come together to impact broader sectors such as finance, retail and marketing.

My major concern is that we’re missing out on that magic. Massive impact happens when all three coincide in what I like to call the ‘Big Tech Bang’.

Case in point: The BMW iNEXT

To illustrate my point, here’s the concept of the BMW iNEXT (set for 2021 release). It’s BMW’s next big foray into the electric vehicle market. As you drive the car, iNEXT uses context, sensors, location, gestures and voice to enhance the interaction between the driver, the passengers and the car.

Such a level of sophistication and sublime experience is only possible when AI (voice recognition, custom machine learning), iOT (sensors that are interconnected and feeding data) and 5G [1] (data and live updates) interact.

“The simple actions of swiping sunroofs, pointing at restaurants for information and talking to your dashboard are lightyears away from interactions in your classic Honda Civic”

When I talk to brands about the BMW iNEXT, I often get asked questions like: How do we create gesture standards? What about data and GDPR? What will clients and users expect from businesses when their cars and device can get to this level of sophistication? These are all relevant questions that I will answer in detail in part two of the article.

iNEXT is great because it makes it easy to understand how these technologies working together will change the world as we know it. The simple actions of swiping sunroofs, pointing at restaurants for information and talking to your dashboard are lightyears away from interactions in your classic Honda Civic [2].

Yet we’re not ready. There are a lot of reasons for this but principally there is a lack of knowledge and collaboration — there are many technology conferences covering AI, iOT or 5G, but few cover all three, and almost none discussing collaborations. And more worryingly, there is little attendance from those other than direct practitioners.

24 months to go…

In physics, the definition of a collision centres around the force that’s exchanged between particles at the moment of impact. So imagine what the impact and subsequent rippling effect will be on businesses — especially in finance, retail and marketing — when AI, iOT and 5G collide.

“This is a clear demonstration to me that there will be a Big Tech Bang, and in a force never seen before.”

According to the latest numbers and data for AI, iOT and 5G, businesses have around two years to get ready to capitalise on the Big Tech Bang. For the Internet of Things, a Gartner report shows that from 2015 to 2020 the amount of iOT devices owned by consumers alone will grow from around 3 billion to 12 billion.

An Artificial Intelligence report from Statista on revenue in AI for enterprise applications show $357.89m in 2016, jumping to a whopping $7,714.17m by 2021. And it becomes even more impressive when we see the estimate of $31,235.92m by 2025. 5G smartphone subscriptions currently sit at around 4m and will grow to 191m by 2021, becoming a massive 1479m in 2024.

This is a clear demonstration to me that there will be a Big Tech Bang, and in a force never seen before.

In part two of the ‘The Big Tech Bang’, I will guide you through the possible outcomes when the big three collide and talk to you about how you can prepare to capitalise on it.

[1] Technically it is possible with 4G, but the experience will be far superior with 5G

[2] Nothing against Honda Civics, they’ve been a stalwart for hatchbacks!