Introduction
The history of artificial intelligence as a new scientific direction begins in the middle of the 20th century. By this time, many prerequisites had already been formed for its origin, where among philosophers, there have long been disputes about the nature of men and the process of knowing the world. In addition, psychologists have developed a number of theories regarding the functioning of the human brain and thinking, economists and mathematicians have been asking questions of optimal calculations. Finally, the foundation of the mathematical theory of computation – the theory of algorithms – was born, and the first computers were created. The capabilities of new machines in terms of computing speed turned out to be more than human, therefore, a question has arisen in the scientific community about the capabilities of computers.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a term used in computer science to refer to the key characteristic of machines, which can exhibit a certain capability to intelligence. The notion should not be confused with robotics because the latter is the physical manifestation of the robots. They can be encoded by a predetermined set of programs performed by specialists, which acts as a source of natural intelligence. However, it is not mandatory for the AI to be physical in order to possess the capability for intelligence. AI can be used by consumers in the form of virtual assistants and chatbots, which are prevalent in modern smartphones. It is stated that Millennials and Generation X are the most active users of such technology with values close 100%, whereas Baby Boomers come next at 68%, and Silent generation is the least active group at 40% (Vogels). Therefore, Generation X and Millennials have the most access to technology.
AI in Business
Unlike human intelligence, artificial intelligence attracts the attention of scientists and engineers who deal with the problems of computer science and computer technology, respectively. Artificial intelligence is the science of concepts that allow computers to do things that people think are reasonable. The task of artificial intelligence is to make computing machines more useful and to understand the principles underlying intelligence. The key components of artificial intelligence are human-machine interactive dialogue, heuristics, and expert systems programming. Artificial intelligence is presented as a mapping of many anthropomorphic tasks to many analytical tools implemented in a computer in order to study and simulate human behavior.
The use of AI in customer service can be a major improvement for both companies and customers due to the full-time availability of support. Currently, AI is mostly used in the form of augmented messaging, email inquiries, and customer phone calls (Walker). The overall implementation reduces the level of routine and repetitive tasks by a significant margin, which results in an increase in productivity and efficiency of the companies. There is a common trend of applying the most functional and effective customer service AI in food companies and banks, which constantly interacts with their customers (Walker). Placing an order through AI is not a highly complex task, but the trend indicates that in the future, complex customer service types, such as personal consultation, can be the next step.
The most actively used software across all three applications of AI are Python, C++, and Java (“AI Programming: 5 Most Popular AI Programming Languages”). For social AI, the most suitable is Java due to its applicability in the mobile device, whereas C++ is appreciated for quick and time-sensitive tasks, such as voice AI. Python can be used for chatbots due to its high reliability. In case of company-specific software, Mycroft is an example of voice AI, LivePerson is a chatbot AI, which can also be used in social media platforms (“Mycroft AI joins Open Invention Network”). Therefore, AI is already taking over relatively complex tasks, such as customer service.
AI in Hospitality
Furthermore, it is important to note that AI’s usage is not limited to customer service in banking and food companies. It can also be useful in hospitality, where, for instance, Alexa can be used to increase guest satisfaction. Each customer is highly valued in the hospitality industry, therefore, it is understandable that there are certain trust issues regarding AI checking the guests and answering their queries. AI requires time to learn and improve itself, therefore, one can integrate AI in a partial manner. By exposing AI to its tasks, it will be able to acquire the required level of performance. Thus, a hotel can use AI in checking guests and answering the queries as an option, which will be useful during peak hours.
It is possible that a guest might wish to interact with a human rather than an AI. In this case, human-like android can be used in order to make the robot satisfy the given need. The back of the house in a hotel will benefit from the front being based on AI. The main reason is that human employees are generally costlier than ever-improving AI, and thus, most workers will be concentrated in the back. It will result in potential pay raise and better HR management due to the lower number of people needed to run a hotel. Although hotels are slow for adopting innovation, the industry will not take a long time to integrate AI. It is because AI will be significantly cheaper to maintain rather than regular employees, thus slow implementation means loss of available profit.
The use of expert systems and neural networks brings significant economic benefits. The reasons leading artificial intelligence systems to commercial success are specialization. The transition from the development of general-purpose tools to problematic and subject-specific tools provides a reduction in application development time. In addition, this increases the efficiency of using tools, simplifies, and speeds up the work of an expert, and allows reuse of information and software. The transition from systems based on artificial intelligence languages to traditional programming languages has simplified integration and reduced application requirements for speed and memory capacity. The result of research on artificial intelligence is the desire to understand the brain, to reveal the secrets of human consciousness and the problem of creating machines with a certain level of human intelligence. The fundamental possibility of modeling intellectual processes implies that any brain function, any mental activity described by a language with strictly unambiguous semantics using a finite number of words, can, in principle, be transferred to an electronic digital computer.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the main challenge in regards to AI is its current state, which still requires extensive development in order for it to become practical and useful. The opportunities are endless because AI, in conjunction with machine learning, will be able to outperform most human work in terms of efficiency and labor cost. Therefore, all types of industries will be able to integrate AI. It will most likely replace the majority of human employees, especially jobs, which involve repetitive and non-creative tasks. However, AI will not be able to replace the jobs where the emotional and creative aspects are critical, such as therapies, SPAs, or filmmaking.
Works Cited
“AI Programming: 5 Most Popular AI Programming Languages.” ExisTek, 2018. Web.
“Mycroft AI joins Open Invention Network.” MycroftAI, 2020. Web.
Vogels, Emily A. “Millennials Stand Out for Their Technology Use, but Older Generations Also Embrace Digital Life.” Pew Research Center. Web.
Walker, Jon. “Use Cases of AI for Customer Service – What’s Working Now.” Emerj. Web.