11 Industries Seeing Fundamental AI-Driven Changes In The Near Future

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Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a part of life so quickly and seamlessly that many of us are still unaware of how deeply it has impacted society. AI analytics has increased the productivity and efficiency of a range of industries ranging from manufacturing to retail.

In the coming year, it's likely that AI will make even more substantial strides, causing positive changes to specific industries and adapting how they function at an elementary level. Which industries are these? Below, 11 members of Forbes Technology Council touch on the sectors that may benefit the most from AI in the coming year and why the technology is so crucial to those fields.

1. Customer Service

No, robots are not going to take over customer service. People will still want to talk to real, live humans to express concerns or get information; AI is only going to bolster those interactions. By offering instantaneous information and support, reps are more productive and efficient, leading to more positive conversations for all parties. - Craig Walker, Dialpad

2. Marketing Across Industries

I believe that AI can be a superpower for marketers today, helping them accelerate their careers, deliver more value to their companies and get more done. Well-applied AI is useful throughout the marketing funnel. It helps deliver personalized digital experiences to each unique individual, engage prospects in real time and predict which prospects are more likely to be higher value. - Guy Yalif, Intellimize

3. Customer Journey Management

Marketing stands to revolutionize customer experience by applying AI to customer journey management. AI can be used to recommend next best actions for meaningful experiences and to categorize populations, offering different treatments for different segments. Sensitive interactions will still require human touch, but agents empowered by AI and real-time information will have up-to-the-minute context to handle them. - Mark Smith, Kitewheel

4. Online And Mobile Payments

AI will help secure online and mobile payments. In addition, it will be able to stop identity theft through a much faster and accurate response time that understands when there is a questionable transaction. - Jon Bradshaw, Calendar

5. Healthcare

With the increased focused on healthcare costs and productivity, this market looks to benefit most from the implementation of AI. AI is being used by massive providers such as Mayo Clinics, Texas Children's Hospital and others to improve the quality of patient care and the productivity of clinicians. At the core of this trend is improving the performance and security of IoT devices on the network. - Abe Ankumah, Nyansa

6. Small Business Accounting

Small businesses account for about 50% of the U.S. economy and over 99% of all businesses in the U.S. Most of these organizations utilize technology such as QuickBooks as the backbone of their accounting function. The accounting needs for most of these organizations are almost undifferentiated, which makes it ripe for AI to replace/augment bookkeepers, controllers, etc. - Patrick Emmons, DragonSpears, Inc.

7. Cybersecurity

The good news is that AI infused with user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA) will enhance and boost the productivity of cybersecurity operations. Companies will be in a better position to find security threats, which may have gone undetected in the past. Bad news is that hackers can use AI-powered malware to create new forms of weapons, which could hibernate undetected in an organization's network. - Jason Lau, Crypto.com

8. Public Safety

Public safety will see the greatest adoption of AI in the years ahead—from cost and speed efficiencies in the handling of emergency calls for service to early identification of public health risks. AI can help deployment of resources in highly dynamic and dangerous situations, and predict and mitigate incidents before they occur. The number of applications and impact will be huge. - Todd Piett, Rave Mobile Safety

9. Retail

While everyone pays attention to the flashier aspects of AI, retail will benefit the most. Retailers will be able to streamline processes and provide better help to customers via bots and automation. Content generation services powered by AI will make it easy for retailers to scale. Finally, AI will help retailers customize and personalize shopping experiences for each consumer. - Robert Weissgraeber, AX Semantics

10. Education

With AI becoming more readily available to different industries and companies of all sizes, I think education will see a huge benefit from it in the near future. Schools can use the power of AI to create more personalized learning methods and tests for their students. This will allow classrooms to better adapt and teach students based on their individual learning needs and preferences. - Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster

11. Public Transit

Public transit is in the midst of a contradiction. On one hand, there is a lot of data about where people are going (mobility data, ticketing data, etc.), but on the other hand, the data is hardly used to ensure that public transit routes and timetables best serve the public. As mobility evolves, public transportation will also begin to use AI to improve service and go where people want to go. - Amos Haggiag, Optibus

Form:forbes.com