In 2017, Amir Husain, a tech leader in Artificial Intelligence, published a book called The Sentient Machine. The book explains how sentient machines will define progress for humankind. In the book, Husain asks readers not to fear Artificial Intelligence, as it can be the mother of several groundbreaking ideas and innovations.

There is wide consensus that AI will be fundamentally important in shaping the next century of human development, especially in business. AI has already started impacting business functions such as Marketing, Human Resources, IT, and Finance. Artificial Intelligence can increase efficiency in all of these departments by eliminating mundane tasks and reducing human error.

The last 30 years have seen an exponential increase in productivity within an organization, thanks to Artificial Intelligence. We have created machines that teach themselves to carry out cognitive tasks which only humans could do in the past. Consider Google Assistant for instance. CEO Sundar Pichai demonstrated how the AI assistant is capable of understanding the nuances in a conversation and respond to complex stimuli in a nuanced and intelligent manner.

The three generations of AI

But to get to having conversations with humans and passing the Turing Test, AI went through different stages of development.

As AI 1.0, applications addressed the areas where the cost of human labor was traditionally high. For instance, translating languages.

AI 2.0 addressed a broader area. Algorithms became more sophisticated and AI applications replaced humans across different tasks. For instance, scanning social media networks for consumer data.

Now, we are in the third generation: AI 3.0  adds blockchain to machine learning and multi-agent system that can complete tasks more efficiently than humans and learn from behavioral data to become even more efficient.

Business professionals agree that AI 3.0 can revolutionize the world of business.

As per a survey jointly conducted by Boston Consulting Group and MIT Sloan Management Review, 83%of the respondents considered AI to be a strategic priority for their businesses. The survey, interviewed 3,000+ executives, managers, and analysts, from 112 different countries. 84% of the respondents also believed that implementing Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in everyday business operations can help them be more competitive.

AI implementation still poses challenges

It makes businesses think and reframe their processes and procedures. To help businesses solve this problem, Amir Husain founded SparkCognition.

SparkCognition automates the process of building AI systems. Since its launch in 2014, the company has established itself as a global leader in deploying advanced machine learning technology. This Austin-based company has been providing business-critical solutions for customers in energy, oil and gas, manufacturing, finance, aerospace, defense, and security industries.

Speaking on the advent of AI in business operations, Husain says,

“Artificial Intelligence will begin to move from perception to action. This will be a long road, of course, but this process of trusting Artificial Intelligence with autonomous action is irreversible in my view.”

SparkCognition’s 4 products

SparkPredict, DeepArmor, DeepNLP, and Darwin are solving many challenges in maintenance, optimization, and security that companies face in various industries. These solutions can streamline operations, optimize operational costs and secure critical infrastructure.

With SparkPredict, businesses can continuously learn and derive automated, intelligent insights from data. Organizations will be able to gather real-time infrastructure data and learning from it for more accurate risk mitigation. Thereby, prevent physical disasters.

SparkCognition’s cybersecurity centered solution analyzes structured and unstructured data to identify potential attacks in the business environment. The company’s DeepArmor product has been designed to detect new malware variants showing up each month.

Cyber attacks are on the rise and are targeting businesses now more than ever! The following infographic explains the impending cybersecurity problems any business might face.

PC: SparkCognition

Under Husain’s leadership, SparkCognition has received widespread recognition. The company made its place in the top 20 listing on the 2017 CNBC Disruptor 50. SparkCognition closed a funding of $56.5 million in its final Series B Funding in 2017.

Recently, the AI company made news for its partnership with Boeing to develop an airspace management solution. With the partnership, SparkCognition aims to solve one of the key hurdles in the advancement of drones and eVTOL (electrical vertical take-off and landing) aircraft.

“Estimated by some analysts at $3 trillion, the urban aerial mobility opportunity will lead to the creation of the largest new market in our lifetimes,” said Amir Husain, founder, and CEO of SparkCognition.

The company partners with world-leading organizations in their areas including General Electric, Google, PTC, National Instruments and IBM.

Bringing AI to the world is expected to become an $191B market by 2024, growing at a CAGR of 37%. In his book, Husain speaks passionately about the value AI brings to humanity. How much of that value SparkCognition is able to capture remains to be seen.