Future Unplugged | AI and ML

Toward end December 2017, we released our Capital Roundup 2017 report. Intended to help startups, large enterprises and investors, we used our excube360 environment scan engine to analyze over 2500 deals that mopped up roughly $44.5 Billion from global investors. These deals spanned 13 "red-hot" technologies (AR/VR; AI/ML; IoT; Big data and analytics and so on) spread across 15 industry applications (Retail; Career and Jobs; Education and Training; Finance etc).

In this report we highlighted those technology-industry combinations that showed serious promise.

There is no doubting the fact that one of the hottest technologies today is Artificial Intelligence and its application using Machine Learning. Sometimes vilified and sometimes deified, but always buzzing in conversations, it is no wonder that some truly wild application fails of AI have surfaced. Chatbots that turn racist because of bad training. A music producer that makes the audience wince. An AI "passport checker" that thought an Asian man's eyes were closed in his photograph, and rejected him.

In all this (often hilarious) buzz, real applications of AI and ML are getting buried.

For example, across industries, humans play (and will continue to play, despite all the doomsday predictions that AI will replace people) a crucial role. And selecting the right person for the a job, based on data sciences and leveraging the power of AI to get at the perfect "fit" will become even more critical.

Another example. Customers switch brands. And with hyper-competition, it is crucial for brands to understand just when a client might jump to competition .. and act before the point of no return. Machine Learning can sift through vast transactional data and surface such situations quickly and accurately.

A third. An estimated 63% of conversations between a brand and its consumers are transactional, and extremely short and pointed. "I've lost my credit card .. can you block it for me?" or "My car's broken down .. which is the closest service location?" In such cases, wait-times for a response can be infuriating and lead to customer churn. AI can help power machines to quickly answer such requests, close them at large volumes, and transfer only the long-duration requests to human operators.

One more. Sensors are now relatively inexpensive, and widespread use of sensors is common today. Collecting astonishing amounts of data (Acoustical. Thermal. Chemical composition. Speed and Velocity. Transactional. Human movement .. you name it, it can be collected) is now much simpler. How can these vast amounts of data be processed through machine learning to make applications such as healthcare, or manufacturing, or even education far more efficient?

These (among many others) are truly valuable problems that AI can solve for large, global brands. And while many enterprises are working on these solutions, it is no secret that leveraging the right start-ups in such "problem spaces" can lead to quicker and leaner deployments.

To highlight these possibilities, we regularly (read: every month) present "problem spaces", and bring together large companies as well as a few start-ups in closed-door, thought-leadership sessions. For the month of January 2018, we are bringing together about ten large global companies and three startups in what we feel will result in sharply-focussed discussions between global brands and young startups on how to approach solutions to large, global problems using AI and ML.

For February, we will focus on another "red-hot" technology: Big Data and Analytics. If you are interested in getting an invite for this (please note that these invitations are limited to about 15 companies), please request an invite here. Please do mention why you would find such a session useful for you and your organization.

About: Excubator is a start-up incubator and a corporate venturing advisory that works with global enterprises (Intel, Oracle, Ricoh and others) and Governments (India, Switzerland, Netherlands etc) to help them leverage start-up innovation. Our Excube360 environment scan engine analyzes and spots technologies and startups that promise faster and leaner innovation cycles for industry, as well as exponential returns on investments.