Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine learning (ML) and Deep Learning, have been fashionable keywords of 2018 and the hype will continue in the year 2019 as well.

In the past few years we have seen exciting technological breakthroughs, these advancements changed the way we live and will impact our lives in future as well. AI is among the hottest topics which are going beyond our imagination.

Here are 5 key AI trends for 2019:

Predicting and Countering Cyberattacks Precisely

Subram Natarajan, CTO, IBM India/SA mentioned the new developments in cyber security space – “In 2018, there has been an upswing in AI adoption with more startups and enterprises implementing AI applications. Going forward, Trust and Transparency will continue to drive the AI-conversation. As AI systems are increasingly being used to make decisions, it is expected that we should now also be able to explain how decisions are made and whether they are fair and unbiased.

We’ll begin to reap the benefits of an enhanced focus on trust and transparency, with companies applying new anti-bias techniques, in combination with guidance from in-house and industry ethics advisory groups, in order to make their products and platforms fairer. IBM has just introduced AI OpenScale which makes it possible for businesses for the first time to be able to identify bias’ existence in AI applications and automatically mitigate that bias. AI will also see an increased adoption in Cybersecurity, with new tools being developed for predicting and countering cyber attacks precisely.”

Smarter Cyber Security

Srinivas Rao, Co-founder and CEO, Aujas shared his views about cyber security – “This year with the evolution of cyber attacks, the industry has seen threats which have changed the face of cybersecurity. With rampant digitalisation, came massive security breaches and ransomware attacks like the highly publicized Cosmos attack; but this only accelerated the need for advanced security measures. Regulations such as GDPR and Sri Krishna panel recommendations on data protection further pushed Indian enterprises to bolster their security standpoints. Gartner’s prediction of Indian cybersecurity spending to hit US$ 1.7 Billion in 2018 is proof of this. CIOs are now more aware of the significant impact a cyber attack can have to an organisation’s reputation and balance sheet.

2019 holds much promise in terms of future technology such as Artificial Intelligence, IoT and multi cloud. However, security by design mindset is not only a technological asset but an existential necessity. Integrating security and establishing standards is the critical first step to deploying new technology. Cyber attackers will get smarter and use new techniques such as leveraging social engineering to mimic behaviour; this is where machine learning and AI will step in to spot unusual patterns in the large volumes of data generated. While AI can identify the employee most likely to be targeted for a cyber attack, the focus must shift away from technology and focus more towards training and awareness, the ultimate goal being to instil resilience throughout the organisation.”

Improved efficiency

Makarand Joshi, Area Vice President & Country Head, India Subcontinent, Citrix talked the adoption of AI and trend in 2019 and mentioned “Enterprises across sectors are increasingly looking toward AI technology to enhance their internal and external processes. AI has recently gained prominence due to its ability to integrate with technologies like cloud, analytics and security solutions. Further, owing to the rising storage costs and increase in the number of connected devices, AI has now taken a front seat in an IT set-up.

When analytics is integrated with machine learning and AI, it can bring forth profound changes for businesses. In the exceedingly competitive landscape that exists today, in 2019, analytics and AI will play a huge role in getting ahead of the curb. The scope for AI adoption will further expand with sectors like education, transport, healthcare as well as government owned entities taking up this technology to improve their efficiency.”

Better Customer Experience

According to Kalki V Yasas, Senior Director – Services, Salesforce India, “Driving CRM adoption with voice driven conversational interfaces. We’re in the midst of unprecedented technological change, where the power of voice is fundamentally changing the way we work. Fifty per cent of all searches will be voice searches by 2020, according to comScore. With voice we’re entering into a new era for how people interact with, delivering entirely new levels of productivity for our customers. The use of Voice Assistants among businesses will be a growing trend to enhance customer engagement across sales, marketing and service teams. Voice assistant will allow users to update records, create tasks and notify team members, offer personalized daily briefings about schedules, company priorities and metrics. Einstein Voice Assistant enables conversational updates to Salesforce and puts them to work with AI ushering in a new era of conversational CRM, delivering new levels of productivity and redefining customer experiences.

Intelligent app and analytics: Modern CRM is about better serving and supporting customers during their journey. AI will focus on leveraging tonnes of data to deliver predictions and recommendations based on your unique business processes. Pair that with automation and you have the insights and time to truly connect with your customers. AI will also automate routine tasks helping organisations to track patterns, identify anomalies and learn from product behaviour to better inform and alert service teams for maximized productivity.”

Transformative

Rohit Maheshwari, Head – Strategy & Products, Subex, talked about the impact of AI that can transform the industries – “The World and indeed India in particular, is headed into the golden age of AI implementation during which AI will have a profound impact on economy and society. We are witnessing unprecedented levels of advancements, particularly in perception AI technologies such as computer vision and natural language processing.

This combined with sensors, cameras and IOT everywhere, will enable businesses to innovate at the speed of thought. To accelerate down the AI superhighway, India requires to focus on the following key building blocks. Gathering and harnessing data – e-commerce, fintech and payment companies, food delivery and logistics, ride sharing, scooter sharing companies are today collecting unprecedented amounts of data about urban India.

With 5G rollouts about to begin, the data explosion will continue to accelerate providing an almost unlimited amount of fuel for the AI engine. Policy environment which encourages and supports AI startups and entrepreneurs – who are willing to work hard, not just 8×5 but round the clock at the creative and tenacious best.

Education system –overhaul our education system so that we produce an army of engineers capable of successful AI implementation, creative economists and business graduates, who not only know how to manage finance but also know how to solve some of society’s most stubborn problems and visionary entrepreneurs who can wage tenacious battles against the best in the world.

I remain extremely bullish about the potential of AI in having a transformative impact on every business. I believe, in 2019, we are just getting started and we are in for tremendous action in the years to come.”

This article originally appeared in Ciol