The First Wave of Corporate AI Is Doomed to Fail

Artificial intelligence is a hot topic right now. Driven by a fear of losing out, companies in many industries have announced AI-focused initiatives. Unfortunately, most of these efforts will fail. They will fail not because AI is all hype, but because companies are approaching AI-driven innovation incorrectly. And this isn’t the first time companies have made this kind of mistake.

We suggest taking a portfolio approach to AI projects: a mix of projects that might generate quick wins and long-term projects focused on transforming end-to-end workflow.

There is little doubt that an AI frenzy is starting to bubble up. We believe AI will indeed transform industries. But the companies that will succeed with AI are the ones that focus on creating organizational learning and changing organizational DNA. And the ones that embrace a portfolio approach rather than concentrating their efforts on that one big win will be best positioned to harness the transformative power of artificial learning.

Source: The First Wave of Corporate AI Is Doomed to Fail

Read More

Artificial Intelligence & Traditional Law Firms

Matthew Peters, National Innovation Leader at McCarthy Tétrault

“People don’t have to worry,” says Khalid Al-Kofahi, vice-president, R&D at the Thomson Reuters Centre for Cognitive Computing, a new technology centre that will focus on research in machine perception, reasoning, knowledge management and human-computer interfaces. “Most of the innovations in artificial intelligence and machine learning will introduce automation at the task level, which will allow people to focus on more complex tasks.”

All of this does not bode well for traditional law firms. A recent global research study by Deloitte concluded that conventional law firms are no longer meeting today’s business needs. The majority (55 per cent) of participants in the study — legal counsel, CEOs and CFOs — have taken or are considering a significant review of their legal suppliers. The study also points out that purchasers of legal services want better and more relevant technologies, to be used and shared on integrated platforms.

The drive toward AI, however incrementally, will likely also mean that law firms are going to have to review their traditional billing model, says Furlong. The time when law firms were the only game in town, where lawyers were the “only vehicle” by which legal services could be delivered, is coming to a close, and AI is going to help to put that to an end, he says. “All of these innovations like artificial intelligence are going to reduce the amount of time and amount of effort required to obtain a legal outcome, so the very lax business model of selling time and expertise, rather than outcomes and results, is coming to an end.”

Source: Artificial intelligence | Canadian Lawyer

Read More

IBM Watson to offer artificial-intelligence software to Mass. physician group – Boston Business Journal

IBM Watson Health will develop software using Watson’s cognitive computing capabilities that can provide a more holistic view of a patient’s health, including summarizing key aspects of a patient’s medical history in an easier-to-use format, incorporating social aspects of a person’s health into the electronic medical record and coalescing de-identified information on similar patients and their outcomes to draw broader insights on a certain treatment strategy.

Source: IBM Watson to offer artificial-intelligence software to Mass. physician group – Boston Business Journal

Read More

IBM Watson Health: Cognitive healthcare outthinks data overload

A single patient’s electronic medical record (EMR) may contain over 100MB of complex and disparate data, and much of it is unstructured, such as text notes. That’s a lot to go through in one doctor’s visit. As part of IBM’s research with Cleveland Clinic, clinicians are working with Watson to explore how to navigate and process EMRs to unlock hidden insights within the data, with the goal of helping clinicians make more informed and accurate decisions about patient care. By comparing EMRs, recent diagnostic findings and medical history, and cross-referencing them with thousands of medical journals, Watson can begin to offer clinicians the benefit of more data, more time to plan the best treatments and more time to spend on patient care.

Source: IBM Watson Health: Welcome to the New Era of Cognitive Healthcare

Read More

Cognitive law outthinks data overload | IBM

It used to take up to 23 days to conduct routine legal research. Now, working with Watson, ROSS Intelligence is using cognitive technology to read legislation, court decisions and secondary sources to find answers in seconds, that help lawyers move quickly from the routine to the essential.

Few law firms of any size can survive in their present form unless they make affordable, quality representation a top priority. Now that ROSS Intelligence has tapped into Watson’s cognitive abilities, firms have the ability to do just that. Along the way, they just might just transform the entire industry.

Source: ROSS and Watson tackle the law – IBM Watson

Read More

How Natural Language Processing is transforming the financial industry – IBM Watson

The exponential growth in data from the Internet, social media and personal devices is providing enterprises with unprecedented opportunities to use digital information to improve their businesses. To an extent, sophisticated analytics programs can help businesses utilize their data by searching for and revealing patterns hidden in structured data, such as spreadsheets and relational databases.

Source: How Natural Language Processing is transforming the financial industry – IBM Watson

Read More

IBM Watson enters ‘Big Four’ accounting firm duel for A.I. dominance – New York Business Journal

In July 2014, the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) published results of a survey which found that 85 percent of CPAs expected an increase in the amount of time they spend on electronic data analysis in the “near” future, according to an Accounting Web report. A quarter of the 180 CPAs surveyed listed big-data analysis as one of the top industry challenges in the future and 20 percent listed increased complexity and scrutiny in engagements.

Source: IBM Watson enters ‘Big Four’ accounting firm duel for A.I. dominance – New York Business Journal

Read More