AI & the future-V1
                     AI AND THE FUTURE 
OF BUSINESS
What every CEO must know about AI 
to thrive or perish
Dear Reader,
Businesses are in a race to adopt AI. But In this book, we'll explore how AI will affect 
what does it mean for CEOs? every aspect of your business from strategy 
and operations to culture and leadership. 
The future of business is changing faster We'll also show you what steps you can 
than ever before and CEOs need to be take today so that your company thrives in 
prepared for the changes ahead. The CEO an AI-powered world tomorrow.
is the most important person in any 
organization, and they need to be aware of 
how AI will change their business. They 
also need to know that adopting AI can help 
them stay ahead of competitors by making 
better decisions faster than ever before.
It’s time for CEOs 
to get on board 
with AI!
About Tech.us: 
Tech.us helps businesses grow their top 
and bottom lines by leveraging AI and 
digital transformation. Top companies hire 
Tech.us to successfully complete their 
software & technology projects on-time 
and on-budget. You can count on our 
experience in successfully completing over 
1350 software projects in the last 20 years. 
Visit 
https://go.tech.us/
to sign up for free training and for 
other useful resources.
Praveen Narra
CEO, Tech.us
Table of Contents
1.1 AI - The Future Is Now 6
AI Is Here. It’s All Around Us 7
The Fate of Blackberry - What Happens When Businesses Resist Change 8
Are You Resisting Change? 8
1.2 AI Through the Times 9
 Early Machines and “Representation” 10
 Dawn of a New Era 11
1.3 Vision for the Future of Business & Life 12
Possible Applications 13
AI: The Destruction or Salvation of Mankind 13
2.1 What Is AI, anway? 14
Dening Articial Intelligence Technology 15
The Evolution of AI 15
Machine Learning 16
Deep Learning 16
Types of AI 17
Weak AI 17
Strong AI 17
 2.2 AI and the Reluctance To Embrace Change 18
Success Stories From Those Who Didn’t Resist Change 19
Apple 19
Netflix 20
Is AI Technology Headed Down the Same Path? 21
How Will People Grow To Accept AI? 22
AI and the Future of Business: What every CEO must know about AI to thrive or perish Page  3
2.3 Data Science: The Next Big Thing 23
Pioneers of Change 24
The Data Wave: Fuel for Data Scientists 24
AI and the Importance of Data 25
How Demand for Data Scientists Increased 25
What Skills Do Data Scientists Have? 26
How To Hire Good Data Scientists 27
3.1 AI Is Transforming Lives: Here's How 28
3.2 AI is Changing Industries, Not Just Companies. 31
Companies That Set the Tone for Innovation 32
And Companies That Didn't 32
The Trend Setters of Today 33
Amazon Health 34
Simple Bank 34
3D Printing 35
It's Time for the Next Step 35
3.3 Is Your Business Ready For AI Disruption? 36
A Closer Look at What Employees Want (And Are Afraid of) 37
Non-Human Barriers to Change 38
Take a Real Look at Your Business 39
Steps You Can Take to Counter These Barriers 40
3.4 AI in Your Business - Where To Use It? 42
Customer Service 43
Sales and Marketing 43
Analytics and Insigh 44
Fraud Detection and Other Solutions in FinTech 45
Diagnostics and Drug Creation 45
AI and the Future of Business: What every CEO must know about AI to thrive or perish Page  4
Employee Management and Oce Maintenance in HR 46
Improving Operations Through Automation 46
Other Uses for AI 47
4.1 Is AI Really Taking Human Jobs? 48
 The Jobs AI Will Replace 49
The Jobs It Can’t Replace 50
The Jobs AI Will Create 51
4.2 Will AI Take Over the World? 52
It Lacks the Tools for Survival 53
It's "Articial" Intelligence 53
We Don't Completely Understand Humans 54
AI Lacks a “Survival Instinct” 54
Historical Perspective 55
4.3 How To Put Your Employees’ Minds at Ease 56
Your Employees Should Trust You 57
Tell Them Why They Need AI 57
Keep Them Involved 58
Answer Their Questions 58
Provide Adequate Training and Resources 59
Communicate Targets 59
Appreciate Past and Present Performance 60
Maintain a Positive Attitude Towards Change 60
4.4 Only Tech Startups Can Use AI: Why This Myth Is Holding You Back 61
How You’ll Fall Behind Without AI 63
The Growing Popularity of AI 63
The Challenges You Might Face 64
AI and the Future of Business: What every CEO must know about AI to thrive or perish Page  5
1.1 AI - The Future Is Now
Imagine what life would be like 
if smartphones never existed.
It's possible that the world as we know it might not exist, either! Sometimes a 
revolutionary piece of technology comes along and changes how people do things 
for the better. That’s what smartphones did. They are so much better than the 
traditional phones of the 1990s and with such high demand that mobile companies 
had to either adapt or perish.
Every CEO today knows that you can’t control consumer 
demand at least, not unless you have a monopoly over an 
industry. 
Today, a new kind of technology has hit the market, and now organizations all over the world are 
being forced to invest in AI to stay competitive and relevant. 
The logic behind it is simple: why would a customer prefer company A over company B when 
company B gives them 24/7 customer service, advertises products to them that are specific to 
their needs and interests, and does everything faster and better?
 
Companies that have embraced the change and adapted their business to utilize AI early have 
benefited from happier, more loyal customers, more engaged and efficient staff, and you 
guessed it significant ROI. Every day another business decides to push forward into the future, 
and there’s no reason you can’t be next.
AI and the Future of Business: What every CEO must know about AI to thrive or perish Page  6
AI Is Here. It’s All 
Around Us
In fact, AI experts reckon that it would take 
at least a hundred years for the technology 
to advance enough for that to even be 
possible! These days, AI technology comes 
in the form of auto-generated captions in 
videos, your viewing suggestions on a video 
streaming platform being tailored specially 
for you, your Roomba knowing what part of 
the house to clean, and many others.
AI is here, and it’s here to stay. It will 
transform every business process like we’ve 
never imagined possible. AI is blazing a new 
trail for how people do things. It’s already 
transforming the way we communicate, 
socialize, learn and work and it has barely 
even begun.
Businesses that get on board now can use 
artificial intelligence to improve operations in 
ways never before thought possible. 
Entrepreneurs & CEOs who don't adapt their 
companies to this new reality risk getting left 
behind or worse - going out of business In a world where jetpacks are already a 
entirely! thing, and tech companies are working on 
air taxis, it’s hard to imagine the corporate 
We could go on and on about how AI is sector would be immune from automation. 
transforming the businesses worldwide, but We’re not just talking robots in the 
it goes deeper than that. Today, AI production line (though come to think of it, 
technology is all around us, and we don’t that is a pretty good use for AI). We’re 
even realize it. That might be a scary thought talking about intelligent software capable of 
to some, but you can blame that on pop predicting future trends fairly accurately 
culture and science fiction for portraying AI (unlike tarot card readers), software that 
as scary, humanoid robots bent on taking helps your employees work better, and 
over the world. In reality, AI is anything but. much more. 
AI and the Future of Business: What every CEO must know about AI to thrive or perish Page  7
The Fate of Finally, in 2018, they announced that they 
Blackberry - were going to stop making phones 
What altogether, bringing an iconic era in the 
Happens history of the mobile phone to an end. The 
When name of the company today is only used as an example of what you shouldn't do.
Businesses 
Resist Change Are You Resisting Change? 
Now, we don’t mean to threaten you, but do 
you remember BlackBerry? It was once the 
biggest player in the mobile phone market, 
and today it just rings a dingy, dusty bell in 
your head. Why? Because it resisted 
change.
BlackBerry figured that the way it did things 
was fine, that there was no way people BlackBerry was one of the most popular 
would grow tired of something that was brands in its era. Its messaging service, 
such a status symbol among the youth, that BBM, was the WhatsApp of the past, and it 
they were here to stay. What they didn’t felt invincible. Only, it forgot that it actually 
think of was that someone, somewhere, was wasn’t. It’s the best example today of what 
sitting on technology so advanced and so happens when you underestimate your 
much better that it would blow it completely competition, fail to adapt and keep up with 
out of the park. the times, and refuse to innovate. 
 
While iPhones and other smartphones hit Sure, the way you do business today works 
the market, blackberry stuck with their fine, but if you’re keeping an eye on the 
tactile QWERTY keyboard and even put it current industrial atmosphere, you know 
on with a touch screen. The result? Clunky change is coming. The only question is: 
phones that no one liked. Will you adapt to the change or be 
While BlackBerry stubbornly stuck to their remembered as the next BlackBerry?
hardware, Apple created phones that were 
sleek, modern, functional, and meant for so In this ebook, we’re going to answer all your 
much more than simply sending emails. questions about AI and explain why it’s 
Eventually, BlackBerry was left with a market something your business most likely won’t 
share of around 0.3%. last long without. 
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1.2 AI Through the Times
The concept of 
artificial intelligence isn’t just 
science fiction, and it’s not 
new, either.
In the book “Gulliver’s Travels,” Jonathan Swift wrote 
about a machine that resembles present day AI this was 
back in 1726! And that’s not all; greek mythology is full of 
stories about robots, and the Egyptians built automatons. 
Granted, AI in its modern form didn’t start taking form until 1956, but the concept 
had already been around for a long time. 
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Early Machines and “Representation”
We talk a lot about AI having been around only 
for the last six decades, but credit needs to be 
given to inventors like Leonardo Torres y 
Quevedo, who created a machine that could 
play chess independently in 1914, more than a 
century ago. Nikola Tesla also made and 
demonstrated the world’s first radio-controlled 
vessel and claimed that it had a “borrowed 
mind.”
Then a few years later, in the 1920s, the 
Houdina Radio Control Car was released on 
the streets of New York, the word “robot” was 
coined by Chezc playwright Karel Capek, and 
the movie “Metropolis” laid the foundation for 
modern day AI and pop culture. In the same 
decade, the Japanese made the first robot. It 
could change its facial expressions and move 
its head and hands thanks to an air pressure 
mechanism inside it. 
Now, it’s very clear that AI is not going to be anything like science fiction predicted, and perhaps 
the thinkers and overthinkers of the past overstated the dangers of AI a bit. But we can’t really 
blame them. The idea of a machine having human-like intelligence is a daunting one, but AI has 
since evolved into something more than just a struggle to mimic human intelligence with 
machines.
AI thrived through the beginning of the 20th century, but this 
growth hit a standstill as the world became occupied with other, more 
important things like the Second World War. AI remained a promising 
idea in theory, but no one had thought of a good use for it yet. 
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Then came the 1950s, and the fate of AI 
changed forever. August 31, 1955, is still 
known as the birth date of the field of 
Artificial Intelligence. This is all thanks to 
John McCarty, Marvin Minsky, Claude 
Shannon, and Nathaniel Rochester, 
who came together to host a workshop 
on the topic. Spurred with this new 
research, books were published on the 
subject, coining new terms like machine 
learning and leading to the development 
of programming languages
Dawn of a New Era 
Sometime around last decade, 
corporations and big players in the 
industry woke up to the many things 
AI had to offer. 
Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, 
Netflix, Spotify, Facebook, and 
countless others have jumped on the 
AI train to fuel innovation and drive 
change.
Now, you can't imagine a world without AI. We're used to asking Alexa to play us a 
particular song, and talking into our phones when we need to set a reminder or make 
a shopping list. 
Social media and all the information we could ever want is at 
our fingertips, and corporations have made seeking 
entertainment in our down-time as simple for us as a few 
clicks, all in part because of AI technology. 
AI and the Future of Business: What every CEO must know about AI to thrive or perish Page  11
1.3 Vision for the Future of Business & Life
With AI having infiltrated all 
aspects of our lives, we can 
only imagine it becoming more 
insightful, intelligent, and 
helpful to us. 
Just like how the internet took over the world of business a 
few decades ago, AI is set to bring about another 
revolution. 
There’s no denying the fact that AI has endless possibilities, and the latest advancements in AI 
technology have left optimists and scientists pleasantly surprised at what it can do. To be fair, 
even the most imaginative novelists wouldn’t have imagined AI helping doctors detect disease 
quicker, helping drive cars and navigate maps through GPS, and even help around the office 
with AI bots that do simple tasks for you. These AI are all well and good, but of course, scientists 
are still working to create bigger, better things. 
In this case, it’s natural to wonder, “what next?” Well, allow us to make an educated guess. 
AI and the Future of Business: What every CEO must know about AI to thrive or perish Page  12
Possible Applications AI: The Destruction or 
Salvation of Mankind
Many wild ideas are not considered as wild 
anymore someone in Gravity industries 
has already made a functioning jetpack, so 
why would anything data scientists dream 
of achieving be out of the question? Think 
medicines tailored to your specific genome, 
animated movies made out of artificial 
actors created just for you, and personal 
assistants so powerful some people would 
In the next few decades, we predict that rather have it make all their decisions for 
hardly any organization or household will be them. Sure, there are many scientists, 
functioning without AI. If you really think theorists, and philosophers who still worry. 
about it, that’s true even now. Can you really 
say that you don’t depend on your GPS 
sometimes to warn you about traffic 
jams and road blockages so you can avoid 
them. Or how about the “assistant” in your 
smartphone? Your Netflix queue? They’re all 
powered by AI. But even so. We’ll grow to 
depend on AI even more than this, and 
businesses will have to invest in AI-based 
marketing, customer service, streamlined 
processes, and much more. It’s common knowledge at this point that AI either has the potential to make the earth a 
H much better place for us to live or turn it into owever, AI today is only focused on hell. But isn’t that true for most things 
single tasks and is what scientists are invented? Fire, discovered way back when 
calling ”narrow” AI. For many, the goal is humans were still new to the Earth, is only a 
still the same as it was for the scientists and thing of warmth and love in the right hands 
philosophers of the past to make AI that but a tool for destruction in another. A kitchen 
resembles human beings. Only now, this knife can either be used to cut vegetables or 
means creating software that can run cause someone harm. And in the same way, AI is only as good as the people who make 
without any human interference, train itself, and train it. 
and learn to perform a variety of different 
human tasks. 
One thing is for certain, though. With how 
fast AI is advancing, anyone who denies its 
Once these “robots” hit the market, many importance stands the risk of being left in the 
things considered impossible would dust when the world moves forward with its 
become possible. high-tech plans. 
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2.1 What Is AI, anway?
We’ve talked about what AI 
does, and we’ve talked about 
how AI is the next big thing, but 
what exactly is it?
Even in the data science community, the subject is so 
widely debated that there’s not a single agreed upon 
definition. 
Now, to most people, this might sound like a bad thing, but this is merely an indicator of how 
many scholars have taken an interest in the technology, which bodes well for AI’s future and 
development. 
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Defining Artificial Intelligence 
Technology
The first attempts at defining AI called it a 
mimicry of human intelligence, the effort to 
give machines the ability to think and even 
make autonomous decisions. Today, the 
most widely accepted definition of AI 
technology is that it is the part of machines 
that gives them the ability to perform tasks 
only humans could perform. This definition 
avoids the ambiguity of saying AI 
technology mimics human intelligence 
without defining what intelligence itself is. 
Today, AI technology also includes machines that not only think but also perform tasks like 
problem solving and decision making. Machine learning and deep learning technology are 
making waves in the field of AI, and both play their own part in helping AI software be 
“intelligent.”
The Evolution of AI 
If asked a few decades ago, a computer scientist would have said that AI software was anything 
that could recognize text and solve basic functions. Today, almost every computer has this 
ability, and the things we expect from AI have changed. 
DataRobot CEO - Jeremy Achin defined AI 
in the following words in 2017: "AI is a 
computer system able to perform tasks that 
ordinarily require human intelligence... Many 
of these artificial intelligence systems are 
powered by machine learning, some of them 
are powered by deep learning and some of 
them are powered by very boring things like 
rules."
Gone are the days when being able to beat a grandmaster in a game of chess was the most 
advanced AI could get, or when software solving complex problems was hailed as a great 
achievement. Today, AI does all this in various industries throughout the world and more. In the 
span of a few decades, scientists have gone from debating what AI is to developing more and 
more intelligent software that is now, quite literally, changing the world. 
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Today, AI performs tasks with the 
help of two other branches of the 
science: machine learning and 
deep learning. These terms are 
often used interchangeably, but 
there’s a difference. 
Machine 
Learning 
Machine learning technology uses statistics to enable AI software to learn from any given data 
and then apply that knowledge to perform any given task. This kind of programming does away 
with the need to write lines upon lines of code for the performance of these tasks and gives AI 
the predictive power that many businesses now depend on. 
Deep 
Learning 
Deep learning “learns” pretty much the same way (by observing a set of data), but the way it 
uses the data is different. While machine learning algorithms typically use it to predict future 
events, deep learning algorithms can make new decisions and solve an array of complex 
problems with its help. 
AI and the Future of Business: What every CEO must know about AI to thrive or perish Page  16
Types of AI 
It’s ironic that scientists who can’t settle on 
a uniform definition of AI do agree on two 
basic kinds: weak AI and strong AI. 
Simply put, scientists consider weak AI as 
the kind that we now use all over the world, 
and strong AI is what scientists hope to 
STRONG AI WEAK AI achieve one day. It isn’t just a case of the 
grapes being sour, and we’ll explain how. 
Weak AI Strong AI 
Weak, or Narrow, AI is merely a mimicry of Strong AI would be software that gives a 
what true intelligence could be. This kind of machine the ability to think and reason like a 
AI operates with far greater limitations than human being and then apply that reasoning 
even the weakest human minds, but with all to solve problems. No matter how much 
of its powers focused on a few tasks, it can scientists try, this kind of technology is still a 
provide astonishing results. Examples of this long way off and is now the new standard 
kind of AI include Siri, Alexa, self-driving scientists hope to achieve with their efforts. 
cars, and almost every other kind of AI 
technology that exists today. Other 
examples are:
Robots in pop culture and myths about AI 
typically stem from speculation about how 
the world would look once strong AI 
Drone robots technology is created, but that’s not going 
Bots used in marketing and customer service to happen anytime soon. Until then, 
Search engine predictive text scientists are content with creating and 
Spam filters in emails improving technology that is helping 
Recommendations for shows and music on doctors find cures to diseases faster than 
Spotify and Netflix previously possible, that improves business 
processes and marketing efforts, and that 
helps make everyone’s lives better. 
AI and the Future of Business: What every CEO must know about AI to thrive or perish Page  17
2.2 AI & the Reluctance To Embrace Change
Time and time again, 
throughout history, we have 
seen technology met with 
skepticism, disdain, and dislike.
 In 1973, Motorola introduced the first cell phone to the 
world. It cost what would be $10,000 today, took ten hours 
to charge, and only gave you half an hour of talk time. 
Today, life as we know it would grind to a halt without them. What was once the butt of many 
jokes is now functioning as banks, schools, sources of information, tools to mobilize and 
organize communities, and so much more.
When the internet was first introduced, people saw it as unnecessary and didn’t really know 
what to do with it. Today, we see it all around us. It started with businesses using the tool to 
share text and pictures around the world. It eventually extended to people from all walks of life, 
creating websites and blogs, until eventually, it became the worldwide necessity it is today. 
AI and the Future of Business: What every CEO must know about AI to thrive or perish Page  18
Now, people have more or less the same All these examples, the entirety of 
attitudes about the next generation of computer history, and everything in 
technology. Until the pandemic started, many between point to one thing: people always 
parents were concerned with limiting their have, and probably always will be reluctant 
children’s screen time, and now to trust or put faith in new technology.
circumstances have made screen time a part 
of life. Children must sit through hours of It’s not until it becomes the new normal that 
online school, and for many, a screen is the people start to trust it and turn their 
only way they can visit with family and skepticism towards even newer technology. 
friends. It’s a cycle that keeps repeating itself time 
and time again, but in the midst of all this, 
Just like how the phone was once a thing of people who embrace the change always 
mystery, impractical yet intriguing in theory, come out winners.
we have a  new wave of technology taking 
that role. Apple 
Success Stories 
From Those Who 
Didn’t Resist 
Change
We’re going to bring back our example of 
Blackberry and how they went out of 
business. When touch screen technology 
was introduced, Apple was one of the first 
companies to identify its potential. While 
people were going on about how these new 
The jetpack designed by Gravity phones weren’t really that good, Apple 
Industries costs almost $10,000 and showed them how good they could be. 
allows limited flight. The idea of something 
like that becoming mainstream is hard to Sure, other players in the smartphone 
believe, but so was the mobile phone once. industry have made a name for themselves, 
 but Apple remains on top because it 
embraced the change in time, now it gets to 
reap the rewards. 
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Netflix To compete with something of Netflix’s magnitude, Disney went to unimaginable 
lengths, amassed a whole catalog of well-
loved movies that aren’t available anywhere 
else, and leveraged the Marvel Cinematic 
Universe. It was only after major investment 
and a fight for viewership that it got a slice 
of the pie from Netflix’s dish. 
Is AI Technology 
In response to changes in technology, some Headed Down the 
companies changed their whole product or Same Path? 
came up with a new one to sell. There are 
also examples of companies that adapted Resistance to AI technology is dimming day 
to changes and are now at the top of their by day, and people are asking questions like, 
game. Or maybe we should say that instead “Is this something my business needs?” 
of reacting to change, they were the “Should I be taking this seriously?” “Will 
change. this be good for my business?” The answer 
to all these questions, in short, is yes. 
Take Netflix, for example. When it started in 
1997, it hardly had the platform it does now. Back in the late 1960s, a group of people 
In fact, it used to rent DVDs through the got together to discuss how they could give 
mail, and when people finished watching, computers a mind of their own. That one 
they’d mail the DVDs back. Eventually, they conference on August 31, 1955, was the 
moved from a pay per rental system to a start of an idea that’s taking over the world 
subscription system, but as soon as they now. When other technologies were first 
saw apps and the internet getting popular, introduced, like the internet, people believed 
they scrambled to digitize. Netflix even that they had to be tech-savvy and know all 
announced a “Netflix Prize” program to about it to work with it. Now, not many 
reward any person or team with a million people truly understand how the internet 
dollars to come up with a system that works, but it’s as normal to us as the sun in 
recommended movies to someone with a the sky. 
set accuracy goal. 
In the same way, AI technology has grown to 
All this, combined with its introduction of a become so user-friendly and convenient 
system to stream movies instantly from that people don’t even realize they’re using 
your home, back when it was still unheard it now. It’s in our search engines and smart 
of, was what set it apart from almost every refrigerators, in our Roombas, and our 
other streaming platform that has launched smartphones. 
since then.
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Think about it when an average human 
being thinks their daily life is easier 
with a little help from AI assistants like 
Alexa and Siri, why shouldn’t you 
utilize the technology to make your 
business run faster and be smoother to 
work with? 
In fact, businesses all over the world 
are doing just that already. Chains of 
grocery stores use predictive AI to 
determine what branch needs more 
of what product. 
Call centers use AI bots to answer basic queries, leaving the actual employees free to work with 
customers. People now want to use AI to revolutionize the world of medicine and so much more. 
Now, it’s pretty much up to you whether you want to be remembered as someone who kept up 
with the times or was left in the dust. 
How Will People Grow To Accept AI?
Many people in your circle and in your 
employ alike might have misgivings 
about AI. According to people who’ve 
researched this resistance to 
technological change in humans, 
society as a whole tends to resist 
change that challenges the status quo.
For example, the Ottomans resisted printing the Quran for almost 400 years when they thought 
it would undermine the importance and influence of religious scholars. However, their opinion 
changed when they realized it could further their authority over the empire. 
The idea isn’t that difficult to understand, really. People are reluctant to fully embrace AI 
because they see it as a threat to their jobs, to their importance in the workplace, and to life as 
they know it. Once people understand that AI isn’t what pop culture and science fiction stories 
make it out to be, nor is it a tool that invades their privacy or interferes with their lives, they’ll be 
willing to give it a shot. 
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Technology can never be good or bad, evil or benign, but its capabilities and power equip 
human beings to do great things in the world. No matter how intelligent software becomes, it’s 
still going to do what the user needs it to, so clearly, the problem here isn’t what the technology 
is capable of, but what we humans do with it. Take smartphones — they’re used all over the 
world to bring about unimaginable positive change, but with their development, all kinds of 
cybercrimes became mainstream as well. None of the burdens of those crimes are on 
smartphones, and they don’t negate all the lives they have improved. 
In fact, it’s only a matter of time before the general public comes around and accepts the idea of 
AI being a normal part of their lives and embraces the betterment of society that comes with it. 
We will understand how easy our work life is going to be with automated internal processes. 
We’ll see how specially designed medicine could work wonders for a patient’s health. We’ll 
experience how self-driving cars can reduce transit time and how AI can revive dying industries 
like agriculture. 
We will look at it with a whole new perspective and 
see that the possibilities for how AI can improve 
our world are endless. 
AI and the Future of Business: What every CEO must know about AI to thrive or perish Page  22
2.3 Data Science: The Next Big Thing 
As AI gains traction, people are 
starting to show interest in 
studying it.
Until a few years ago, universities worldwide showed no 
interest in the field but are now churning out data scientists 
as fast as they can, unable to meet the recent high demand 
for data science graduates. 
AI is now much more than just a wild idea. It’s something that’s shaping the way people live 
their lives and do tasks as simple as grocery shopping and driving their cars. In fact, data 
science is so sought after that, according to LinkedIn, demand for data scientists has grown 
650% since 2012! 
Someone has to design and manage all the technology that goes behind these advancements 
and keep them running as well. That’s where data scientists come in. 
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Pioneers of Change There is already visual AI technology in existence that can recognize and categorize 
visual data better than humans, and things 
will only get better from here. 
The Data Wave: Fuel 
for Data Scientists
Data scientists have worked tirelessly to 
make the world a better place, and while 
their main goal of creating a strong AI is still 
far from completion, they have given us 
wonders far beyond what we thought 
possible in the past. In the last six decades, 
they have worked around AI “winters” and Do you remember what it was like before 
given us things like computers became mainstream? Global 
The ability to predict the future communication was just a dream. It took 
Self-driving cars ages to write letters and get messages 
Virtual assistants across. Businesses all advertised with 
Improved healthcare pamphlets and television ads that many 
Better marketing for organizations organizations now consider an inefficient 
Improvements in fields like agriculture, way of marketing. 
tourism, and more 
More intelligent computers improving 
employee productivity But as soon as letters and pamphlets 
became a thing of the past, the world 
All these things have only been possible started storing data digitally. Now, photos, 
with the help of data scientists teaming up videos, and pretty much anything else is 
with experts all across different scientific stored online or on our mobile devices. 
fields. Currently, data scientists are working People now go out of their way to digitize 
on creating the next generation of their family albums and photos because 
technology. they want them to last forever. And they will. 
As digital documents, they will last forever 
This new generation will contain military or until the owners permanently delete 
weaponry equipped with intelligent them. 
software, robots that help around the house, 
AI pets that can sense their owner’s moods And that’s the thing. Anything that you put 
and interact with them, and much, much on the internet or in online storage stays 
more. there forever, 
AI and the Future of Business: What every CEO must know about AI to thrive or perish Page  24
which doesn’t just include your photos, 
videos, or your work documents. Every click How Demand for Data 
you make on the internet, every post you Scientists Increased 
like, every second of youtube videos ever 
created are all being recorded and stored. 
According to some estimates, humanity now 
has an estimated combined total of 44 
zettabytes of stored data, and it’s not going 
anywhere. There are millions of hours of 
footage uploaded onto YouTube every day, 
millions and billions of clicks made on social 
media throughout the world. The problem 
isn’t storing it all, and the question isn’t even Once companies, especially tech 
what we’ll do with all that data. companies, saw this influx of data, they 
faced a new problem. Managing it and, if 
AI and the Importance of Data possible, leveraging it to their advantage. 
Companies wondered if there was 
something they could do with all the user 
information being accumulated or if they 
could learn from it to make their company 
more profitable. Naturally, the experts had 
the answer. 
It all started with experts in the data science 
field turning to the corporate sector once 
they noticed this trend and convinced the 
There’s a reason why people who work in the field of now tech giants like Google and Apple to 
artificial intelligence are called Data scientists. As it 
currently stands, AI technology can only imitate human invest in the new technology. Today big 
intelligence (or some aspects of it) because it’s allowed companies invest millions of dollars 
to observe, learn from, and imitate patterns of behavior in 
sets of data fed into it. You could compare it to how a annually into data science, and universities 
parrot learns to talk. It doesn’t know the exact meaning of offer graduate degrees in the discipline, but 
the words at first, but it learns by imitating the sounds 
made by those around it, be it a sentence, a swear word, it still isn’t enough. 
or a mobile ring tone. 
This is why AI is only as good as the data you feed it and Almost all companies now need someone to 
why data scientists are called as such. A big part of their be on board to manage their AI software. 
job is to extract data from various websites or databases, 
organize it and manage it so it’s useful to AI, and then Those who don’t try to outsource to 
train AI programs with that data. The more data AI software development firms or buy off-the-
programs go through, the better they perform. Because of 
this recent surge in data available worldwide, AI shelf software from data scientists who 
technology has grown faster than we could have ever developed some basic code that various 
expected it to. 
companies can use. 
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What Skills Do Data industry or business, and the same goes for 
Scientists Have? being part of a particular business. There is a need for AI technology in almost every 
field, and data scientists need to learn about 
each industry they work with on the go. 
Strong Mathematical and Statistical 
Skills:No data scientist can function well or 
perform their job without having a strong 
understanding of math and statistics. 
Without these two skills, they can’t possibly 
handle large chunks of data, manage them, 
At this point, you might be wondering what and train AI software. 
skills a good data scientist would have if you Interest in the Field: Data science is a 
ever wanted to hire one. new field, and there aren’t too many books 
that would cover most problems you can 
Data scientists are different from software encounter throughout the course of your 
engineers because while software work. The field is also so dynamic that 
engineers have a set way to do things, data anything written like that will only grow 
scientists have to figure it out themselves. outdated in a year or two when someone 
While many data analysts and statisticians else develops new solutions to the same 
out there can review a set of data and then problem. For a data scientist to be good, 
tell you what it means, data scientists can they need to be interested in the field. Only 
do that and then go one step beyond to use then can they learn and relearn things about 
that data for future predictions and to train the AI world as their job demands. 
AI that can accomplish more than we ever Coding: A very big part of a data scientist's 
thought software could. job is to write code and develop algorithms. 
Data scientists should not be intimidated by 
A good data scientist has the following coding tasks and should have familiarity 
skills: with several coding languages.
Problem Solver: Many data scientists are Communication Skills: This has to do 
hired to solve an existing problem with the with data scientists learning things about 
help of AI and machine learning technology any particular industry. They need to 
or to make existing processes better. If they communicate with other people to find the 
do not have this particular “soft” skill, it best solution for a problem and determine 
might be tough for them to do their job well. the needs of the people working with the AI 
they create. They would then take that 
Fast Learner: Developing bespoke AI feedback or work side by side with other 
software for a particular firm or company people in a team to make those things 
might involve first learning about their happen. 
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How To Hire Good Data Scientists 
If you're looking to hire a data scientist for your company, you'll have to compete with tech 
giants like Google and IBM to attract skilled personnel. This is proving difficult for a great 
number of people because data scientists know how in-demand they are, and most will have a 
whole range of options. If you want to attract a good data scientist, you need to develop a strong 
employee package. Don't focus only on the basic salary  though that, too, should be attractive. 
Focus on making your organization a good place for them to work. 
Sometimes it can be hard even to attract their attention, and you might need to seek them out 
yourself. In that case, you can hold workshops at universities, announce competitions for senior 
graduate students in the field, and visit science seminars where you might find more 
experienced candidates for your job. 
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3.1 AI Is Transforming Lives: Here's How
We know we've talked about 
this before, but it bears 
repeating. AI is the future, and 
it's already here.
There are things like intelligent pets, new kinds of off-the-
shelf software for grocery chains and supermarkets, and 
even robots for production lines that are helping 
industries prosper. 
Let's talk about some of the things AI technology has given us and how those things are so 
normal now, we don’t even realize how remarkable they are! 
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In Email: people who previously visited their website, 
Email spam filters work better when they people with the same interests as those
use AI because scammers and marketers who like their page, people in a certain 
have been finding ways to work around locality, and much more. These kinds of 
those rules for ages. Today, AI offers much intelligent options weren’t available to 
more intelligent solutions to the problem marketers previously, and they have vastly 
and keeps most pesky emails away from our improved business for companies 
inboxes. Email’s auto-reply feature, too, is worldwide. 
the work of the same technology. 
Automating Business Processes: 
Viewing Platforms: Amazon has now placed a new kind of 
Many viewing platforms like Netflix use AI robots into their warehouses, known as 
technology to give you personalized “cobots.” They’re called that because they 
recommendations. These recommendations are designed to work alongside humans 
keep you on the viewing app for longer and instead of those large production robots, 
improve your viewing experience. Social which could have been quite dangerous. 
media apps use AI to customize your feed These robots can pack items, pick and 
pretty much in the same way. An AI software place them, take analysis of the inventory, 
is forever monitoring what you’re doing, and much more. Cobots can track speed 
what posts you like, how long you stay on and motion to avoid accidents, and they 
them, and what pages you visit most out of also have limited power this way, if a cobot 
all the ones you follow. All these things malfunctions, it won't be able to harm 
combined mean that if you engage with a anyone nearby. 
content creator or a specific kind of content 
often, there are chances that you’ll start Self-driving Cars and Computer-
seeing more of the same thing. Vision: 
We're no strangers to the new Teslas 
Targeted Ads: roaming the streets now, but we might be 
AI has managed to pretty much unaware of the computer vision technology 
revolutionize the way companies and that enables them to drive themselves. 
organizations advertise their products and That's right, AI has made it possible for 
services. With the help of the same software machines and computers to see, and much 
that helps show us more of the same things computer-vision software has been proven 
we like, social media platforms help to identify and place objects better than 
companies by showing their ads to the humans can. This technology is also 
people interested in the same thing or have responsible for reverse image searches on 
a high chance of being interested in it. With our computer devices and face recognition 
Facebook offering a custom audience technology. In the future, we might see a 
service on their advertising platforms, pages significant decrease in accidents and 
can now put their content in front of the commute time as self-driving cars become 
more and more common.
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Commercial Flights: features such as speech recognition and 
While we're on the topic of self-driving reporting abilities. There are even 
vehicles, we might as well mention autopilot automated lawnmowers and laundry robots 
in today's commercial aircraft. Only over on the way! Clearly, the future the Jetsons 
seven minutes of flight is not guided by a predicted isn't too far away.
pilot, usually the takeoff and landing, but the 
course the plane is supposed to take, and Improving Customer Experience: 
things like altitude and speed are controlled The huge department store chain, Macy's, 
by autopilot gestures built into the plane by has been testing cognitive AI technology 
talented scientists. that will change how stores do business. 
With the help of "Macy's On Call,” as 
Personal Security: they're calling it, we'll be able to ask a 
There are now companies all over the world smartphone-based assistant for any store-
that specialize in AI-based home security. related guidance. They'll know where 
Deep Sentinel is one of those companies, specific departments are, where you'll find a 
and it boasts an AI system that can "predict particular brand, or what things are available 
and disrupt crimes before they occur.” in the store and what isn’t. In the same way, 
Sounds pretty neat, right? Now and in the ASOS is going to start using computer 
future, perhaps more security services will vision technology to scan any image of an 
focus on preventing and predicting crimes influencer or celebrity wearing a certain 
and break-ins instead of protecting civilians outfit and then suggest items in the ASOS 
once it happens. It makes this happen with store that would give the customer a similar 
the help of a system consisting of neural but cheaper look. ASOS has found that 
networks, computer vision, and deep customers who use this product are 75% 
learning. Many other security companies are more likely to return to their stores. 
developing cameras equipped with deep 
learning technology that can identify 
threats. The technology is identical to the This isn't all. There are things like 
computer vision cameras used in self- robot pets and apple glasses 
driving cars.
 on the way as well. The 
Cleaning Robots: applications of AI far exceed 
The Roomba was first introduced in 2002, industrial applications, and we 
and back then, it could identify stairs and can't go back to the days when it 
stay away from them. Now, the latest was just the stuff of science 
Roomba can scan a ton for objects and fiction. The only way we can go 
obstacles, remember the best path for is forward. Who knows what will 
different places, and even remember the 
most efficient ways to clean a room. There become of this technology in the 
are other models in the market now, with future. 
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3.2 AI is Changing Industries, Not Just
Companies.
We just talked a great deal 
about how AI is part of our 
lives now, 
so if it isn’t already part of your industry, or you’re not already looking to take 
advantage of the technology, it could spell disaster for your business.
Many stores aren't just using AI in tried and tested ways to 
streamline business processes, they're developing whole 
new ways that are specific to their business. 
These are the industries and organizations that will end up making a splash.
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Companies That Set the Tone for Innovation
If you look at entrepreneurial history, the most 
successful businesses aren’t ones who did 
something everyone else was doing and got 
lucky, but the businesses who came into their 
sector with a new, revolutionary idea that no 
one else had thought of yet. Netflix started 
providing an online streaming option to its 
customers back when it was still unheard of. 
Facebook became famous because people 
didn’t have anything like it before. 
The same can be said for industries all over the 
world, but the reason for their continued 
success is that they kept it up. Facebook didn't 
just make their original "hardware only" website 
and leave it at that, and neither did Apple 
release the iPhone one time and assume it 
could keep selling it forever while the people 
around it kept innovating and changing trends. 
And Companies That Didn't
These companies continue to be the trendsetters in their industries, and we can all learn 
lessons from the failures of others, too. While history is full of stories of innovators who changed 
how everyone did things for the better, it’s also filled with stories of the companies that paid the 
price for their rigidity. 
One of the companies that was well on the 
road to success was Blockbuster. In fact, 
given that it was once valued at $3 billion, 
it was successful but fell from grace when 
Netflix came and offered consumers 
something that Blockbuster couldn't. 
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Blockbuster was so hung up on their late fees, 
their video rental stores, and their own brand of 
outdated growth that it took too long to catch 
up to what other companies like Netflix were 
doing. In fact, Netflix was in part made only to 
counter those pesky late fees. While Netflix let 
its subscribers keep DVDs for as long as they 
wanted for a single monthly subscription fee, 
Blockbuster kept its business model and 
boosted growth as fast as one new store per 
day. 
Blockbuster did team up with Enron to create a video on-demand service of its own, and while 
Enron did most of the work, Blockbuster kept its focus elsewhere. When Enron became tired of 
feeling like they were in a group project with the worst kid in class, the deal fell apart. 
Blockbuster did end up scraping late fees and creating a video on-demand service, but it was 
too late. The damage had already been done, and the company went from being valued at $3 
billion to declaring bankruptcy with over $900 million in debt. 
The Trend Setters of Today 
After taking a look at history, it might be easy 
to see where change is happening now. 
Many tech companies are well on their way 
to popularizing new technology, and we all 
know what that means for existing big 
players in the market: they must adapt or 
fade into obscurity.
There are many trendsetters and disruptors, especially with a whole new set of demands 
and markets popping up in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Consumer needs and 
priorities changed significantly, and we saw organizations scrambling to keep up. Many 
suffered, too. We saw people being laid off and budgets were cut while many organizations 
saved on office overhead thanks to social distancing measures. 
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Amazon Health 
Amazon Health is an app that was previously 
only available to its employees in Washington, 
but late last year, it declared its availability to 
employees in all fifty states. What is it, you ask? 
It's a platform that can connect someone with a 
medical professional in under ten seconds via 
either in-chat or video in real-time. The service 
is provided by employers as part of the health 
insurance for their employees. Amazon has 
welcomed companies from all over America to 
use it for their employees as well. 
The idea of connecting with a medical professional digitally isn't new, but this is the first time 
someone has combined AI and app technology to pull it off like this. The Amazon health app will 
make many players in the healthcare market reconsider how they provide care to their patients 
and minimize patient-doctor in-person contact, which in turn minimizes the risk of transmission 
for COVID-19 and ensures the patient's safety. 
Simple Bank 
People are bored of complicated banking 
procedures and the need to go to the bank 
personally for this thing or the other. Many 
banking companies all over the world have 
accommodated this need by creating online 
banking options for their clientele. However, 
"Simple" really thought outside the box. 
It saw that the current business model was the same one established in the 1950s, and it 
decided to do a little update. With this new model, customers didn't have to visit a bank at all 
because Simple didn't have a branch! It offered all of its services online through a dedicated 
portal, and it provided services like the Simple Visa card, photo check deposits, the free use of 
over 55,000 ATMs, and sending checks by mail. 
Regrettably, the bank announced its closing in 2021 for internal reasons, but not before showing 
everyone what could be done with the future of online banking! 
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3D Printing 
It might be an unexpected thing to talk about, 
but you can't deny how things have changed 
for creating small toys and crafts at home. If you 
go on Etsy right now, you'll see countless home 
sellers offering either 3D printed objects of their 
own design or designs for other printer owners 
to use. The industry is set to grow to a 
staggering $34.8 billion by 2024, but it's not 
surprising considering everything else we’ve 
covered so far. 
It's Time for the Next Step
Take a look around you and in your own particular industry. Is someone else selling the same 
thing but doing it better? Or is someone else planning to take the next step, but doing so in 
secret? Ask yourself: do you really need to be the one scrambling to keep up, always coming in 
second to the companies who thought ahead, or do you want to be the new trendsetter who 
gets ahead because they had the foresight to leverage technological advancements to your 
advantage, like the entrepreneurs of the past? 
AI is the next big thing, and it's obvious from all the innovations it has brought about in 
various spheres of life. If you care about not becoming the next Blockbuster or 
BlackBerry, you might need to start thinking about how you're going to use AI for your 
business. 
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3.3 Is Your Business Ready For AI Disruption?
By now, it’s very clear that your 
company’s survival through the next 
decade depends on how well it can 
adapt to the upcoming changes in 
technology.
Not every company is built to withstand change, and 
every CEO worth their salt knows there are various 
barriers within the organization that they need to address 
before putting their plans into action. 
The change you seek may be introducing a new team lead to a small project or executing a 
complete overhaul of the way your company deals with customers, manufactures products, or 
generates revenue. Regardless, there will be employees who oppose the change and 
stakeholders concerned with how this will influence their own agendas standing in your way. 
Sometimes the barriers to change aren't even actual people, but the money and time it would 
take or a lack of skilled personnel. 
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Here’s a list of all the barriers that you might 
be facing. Next, we’ll talk about how to deal A Closer Look at What 
with them. Employees Want (And 
Are Afraid of)
   Employees might be tough to get on board
They don’t know enough about the new  technology 
They don’t see why the change is needed 
They may feel threatened or fear losing their jobs 
They’re not committed to the change
Past experiences leave them unmotivated to change 
They might have ethical objections to using AI in their work 
They may not trust their managers to look out for their 
best interests while the company transitions
Money and resources might be an issue 
Stakeholders and upper levels of 
management may not see the value in the On average, younger employees are more 
investment of time or resources responsive to change than older ones. While 
young people want to stay relevant, learn 
Countless other such factors keep an new things and grow in their industry, older 
organization from changing with the times, people tend to be more set in their ways. 
and many companies need to work on They fear that by giving into change, their 
creating an environment that fully embraces experience will become irrelevant. 
and welcomes change. This one factor is 
what can make or break a company, and the However, even younger employees can feel 
ones who succeed in today’s world are threatened by new technology if they feel 
companies that are most dynamic. like their skills would no longer be needed. 
Macy's surely faced this kind of problem 
There are also many things you can do to from the salespeople working in its stores 
encourage change. One way is to start when it decided to start testing "Macy's On 
discussions in company meetings on why Call" and would have had to address these 
it’s necessary to have an open-minded concerns before it got started. 
approach. This will lessen resistance to 
change and ensures that your company is Employees want job security. They want 
ready and geared for change. You can better to know that even when this new 
tackle the sudden entrance of a competitor technology rolls around, their skills and 
in the market, or that of a crisis, with short contribution to the organization will still be 
notice. Being able to meet new challenges wanted, and most of all, valued. The part 
head-on isn't just a short-term struggle, and you play in making sure this happens is of 
there is a real need for companies to foster a immense value because when change 
positive attitude about change in their comes knocking, you need to move fast and 
workforce and day-to-day operations. strong. Blockbuster did try to change, but it 
took too long to get there and sank anyway. 
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 Make sure your employees know their jobs For many small companies, investing in new 
are safe, and even if they’re not, treat them technology can be hard and scary, 
fairly and do everything you can to ensure especially when they can’t afford to take the 
their welfare. losses that might result from decreased 
productivity or unavailability of their 
Not only this, but when your workforce feels services while they direct their limited 
like you’re putting them through all this resources to enact change. Conversely, it's 
change for nothing or introducing needless just as complicated for big companies to 
practices into their workflow, you’ll face navigate and manage change from top to 
resistance. No one wants to follow new rules bottom throughout various offices and 
when it feels like those rules are just for the branches. 
sake of controlling them. Employees might 
also feel like the company was “doing just The biggest barrier to change in both these 
fine” before and find it annoying that upper cases is money. While it costs less to bring 
management decided to change how things about change in a small company, the 
were run. They’ll also resent newer personal costs might be high. Small 
additions to the team  the people you hired business owners have a lot riding on their 
with the skills to help with the transition. startups, and they run the risk of failing 
This is especially true when they feel like spectacularly if they change things up too 
these “outsiders” are being valued more fast. However, not changing might keep 
than they ever were despite being seasoned things going for a few more years only to 
and loyal employees of the company. result in lost market share to competitors 
who kept with the times. A profitable 
You need to address all these issues within company with solid backing from investors, 
the workforce while simultaneously dealing or one whose owners can afford to reinvest 
with the non-human factors standing profits into the business, has the best 
between you and the guaranteed survival of chance to come through a transition alive. 
your company.
You’ll even meet logistical nightmares along 
Non-Human Barriers the way. Imagine how ASOS deals with 
to Change providing their outlets with all the clothes customers want. Supplying the same thing 
in the same proportions to all outlets is 
hardly the answer; some people in certain 
places want a certain look more than others. 
Taking the equal supply approach to all the 
stores will only lead to their clothes sitting 
on the shelves of one store while customers 
in another ask for them. Figuring this out 
requires extensive market research and 
analysis of market trends for each location. 
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For small companies that don’t have the The spending power of the customers 
right protocols for record keeping or coming into each store is different, and so 
tabulation of data and customer trends, are the things they buy.
there is the added problem of gathering and 
managing high-quality data, especially in Need to convince suppliers to use the new software
enough quantities to train AI software 
adequately. Have a meeting with grocery store 
managers, tell them about the AI and how 
Take a Real Look at it can help 
Your Business Figure out how to notify suppliers of purchase volume changes 
Adjust budget for products that are most 
in demand 
Organize staff training and orientation 
Invest in an in-house team, or outsource? 
Review selling regulations in all areas
 
Do any of the branches need to be 
expanded for more shelf space? 
If you feel like your business might face one 
or most of these problems, don't worry. 
Companies don't spend all their time 
making sure they're ready for a change like 
it could come any second. You can definitely 
turn the situation around. However, the first Now, it would be the 
step to finding a solution is naming the owner's job to look into all 
problem. Take some time to evaluate your these matters first, and 
business and identify areas that could while they may seem like 
benefit from a change or update. "barriers" and technically 
be called that, they should 
Here is an example of what that list might be thought of simply as 
look like for a grocery store chain that wants things that need to be 
to start using a machine learning based 
algorithm to predict demand for different done.
products in its ten stores, each located in a 
different area of the same city.
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Steps You Can Take Sure, they might get used to it over time and 
to Counter These grow to accept it, but what are the chances your new system will even last that long 
Barriers when no one wants it? In this precarious 
stage for your business, you cannot afford 
to have thinly veiled hostility coming in from 
your employees.
 
How do you address these concerns? Well, 
first, you need to find out what those 
concerns actually are. Sure, you can 
probably guess most of them, but actually 
asking your employees yourself goes a long 
way. It’ll also tell you where to focus your 
As we saw from the scribbles made by the energies. You don’t want to be handing out 
owner of a grocery store chain, sometimes pamphlets about how AI is good for 
thinking of a problem and then its solution company growth and is completely ethical, 
happens side-by-side. If your employees while most of your employees know this and 
have misgivings about the changes you are more worried about their own jobs!
plan to enact in your company, organize a 
company meeting or a workshop to address Another approach is to do an anonymous 
those concerns. survey so employees can convey their 
concerns openly without worrying about 
Let's talk about all the steps you can take to losing their jobs or receiving backlash. You 
get your company ready for an AI revolution. can also hold meetings, and in a larger 
Address Employee Concerns company, ask branch managers to hold them and have them report to you or review 
Employee concerns have been the most the minutes. If your team is mostly remote or 
talked about thing in this section because working online, you can even just post the 
not only is it the number one problem message on the team slack and welcome 
business owners face when it comes to feedback. 
technological changes in the workplace, but 
also the reason why your changes have the 
highest chance of failing. We’ve gone Ultimately, the way you 
through all the reasons why AI is the right approach your employees 
next step for you and your business, but depends on your 
what happens if you force it on your 
employees before they fully accept it? company’s size and what 
Well, your employees will leave, and the workplace atmosphere 
ones who’ll stay won’t be very happy about you’ve cultivated. 
it either.
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Downsize Or Upsize As Needed Do You Have Enough Data?  
There’s no way around the fact that When you have your AI up and running, it’ll 
eventually, you’ll have to lay off some of need a considerable amount of data to train 
your employees as the way you work it. The kind of data depends on what you’re 
changes. If you’re using AI robots in the trying to achieve, but if you have loads of 
production line, you’ll need less workers unstructured, unorganized data, you should 
there. If you’re using AI software to at least know what it is and where it is on the 
streamline workflow in the office, servers for when your AI team asks. 
employees will now get more work done in 
less time, and you won’t need as many to If you aren’t a fan of data collection, you’ll 
stay efficient. Many organizations are now need to work with your AI team a little 
even using AI to replace their news report longer, and their job might be a little harder, 
writers. so keep that in mind! 
You may let some employees go, but a You will face many other barriers, but keep 
better option may be providing training to in mind that people have overcome those 
prepare them for a different job within your barriers time and time again to create work 
company. Investing in your staff is a great environments that earned them millions in 
way to foster company loyalty and improve revenue! 
morale for your entire workforce. Sure, you 
may be changing the way you operate, but 
you’re showing a commitment to continue 
working with the same team.
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3.4 AI in Your Business - Where To Use It?
No one can tell you exactly how 
to use AI in your business 
without knowing it first, 
 but there are certainly examples you can learn from.
By observing what other people around you are doing, 
you can learn what to do and what not to do.
As many have found, there are some common uses for AI that have proven their worth time 
and time again. Here is a list of all the areas where AI might fit in your business model:
Customer Service Diagnostics and Drug Creation in 
Healthcare
Sales and Marketing  
Employee Management and Office 
Analytics and Insight Maintenance in HR 
Fraud Detection and Other Improving Operations Through 
Solutions in FinTech Automation 
AI and the Future of Business: What every CEO must know about AI to thrive or perish Page  42
Customer Service
If your business relies heavily on the quality of 
your customer service, you need to think about 
what AI can do for you. For example, 
companies in the travel industry have 
benefitted the most from chatbots and 
automated calls, and over 60% of all calls 
received in certain call centers now are 
automated. 
A number of online platforms for tourists are using in-app chatbots that understand the context 
behind each query and can offer actionable solutions to each customer. This saves time and 
gives companies the ability to provide support to their customers 24/7. At the same time, 
automating most calls with common queries coming into a call center ensures that the call 
center agents only have to spend their time on the most complicated calls. This also gives call 
centers the ability to take more calls in an hour, especially since there is likely to be no limit on 
the calls the automated system can handle. 
AI has even improved the way call center operatives do their work, with the help of things like 
Voice Authentication for better security and call analytics. While voice authentication works to 
make calls safer for customers, particularly in calls related to banks and financial institutions, AI 
programs can listen in on calls to understand caller intent and collect data that’s extremely 
useful for predictive purposes later. AI bots can even recognize what the caller is saying and 
help the call center operative by suggesting responses that they can use. This way, the whole 
experience can be more uniform for all callers. 
Sales and Marketing 
AI has long been used in marketing to 
determine the placement and visibility of ads 
in ways that get the most conversions. All the 
ads placed on websites and social media 
feeds go through a complicated system to 
determine who would be interested in them 
and who wouldn’t based on data collected 
from millions of users and their online 
behavior. 
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This is called personalized marketing, and it doesn’t just stop at online ads. Many online stores 
can now even send personalized emails to leads and focus on sending the right message at the 
right time to convert them into customers. 
For example, if a certain brand of handbags has recently seen a drop in sales, it can check 
analytics to find out why. It could be that another company like yours launched a campaign 
advertising that they manufacture handbags ethically. Ethical production is clearly something 
that the targeted audience cares about. So, the company whose sales are down could 
potentially turn things around by using targeted ads to show their audience that they also use 
ethical manufacturing processes.
Companies can even use AI to gather data from their marketing efforts and analyze which 
methods are working and which aren’t. There is a lot of industry-related data and other statistics 
already available that can tell a company what their customers generally care about, which 
helps them come up with effective marketing campaigns and put their energies where they’ll 
best be of use. 
Many organizations even take advantage of sales forecasting systems to help guide production. 
This way, they make sure resources aren’t wasted, and all the branches at different stores have 
everything they need but nothing more. They have even started using bots to assist sales 
representatives in their jobs to increase leads and provide better services. 
Analytics and Insight 
Analyzing customer data and previous trends 
has helped companies and other 
organizations prepare for the future time and 
time again. Not only are certain kinds of AI 
software capable of analyzing past trends in 
lead conversion and customer satisfaction, 
but they’re also used to help make time-
sensitive decisions. 
Market data and analytics can also be supplied to business owners and decision makers in real-
time, which helps in time-critical decision making. 
Companies can access all kinds of insights based on geographical location, demographic, age, 
gender, and more. If they put the data side-by-side with their own internal decision making and 
company changes, they can have predictions as accurate as if they were using a crystal ball. 
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Fraud Detection and Other Solutions in 
FinTech 
The biggest thing financial organizations are 
now using AI technology for is fraud 
detection. Many kinds of AI software can 
analyze an incoming call to figure out if it’s 
likely to be fraudulent or not. The software 
analyzes things like the location the call is 
coming from, the device being used, and 
even aid in multi-factor authentication that 
can dissuade any scammers and fraudsters. 
But security-based AI in financial institutions doesn't just protect the end users and their money. 
It also protects the institution itself by calculating the likelihood of a borrower returning their loan. 
Calculations like this are AI-based and done with parameters like the borrower's credit score and 
recent trends in mind. 
Diagnostics and Drug Creation
It seems unlikely that AI would find applications in the world of Healthcare, but when we said it 
can help everyone, we meant it. AI has been used in healthcare to improve diagnostic rates 
technology developed with its help can sometimes spot tumors and signs of other diseases 
much earlier and more accurately than a human doctor could. It even aids in drug creation by 
combining past and present data into a single place, then using it to create new drugs. It can 
even integrate FDA data and predict the chances of a particular drug being approved or 
rejected. 
Doctors can now use AI to manage their 
patient flow based on priority. AI can 
determine who needs medical aid most 
urgently, making it the perfect healthcare 
assistant. It is now even being used to 
remotely connect patients with suitable 
doctors through AI-based apps like Amazon 
Health. 
Another great use of AI would be managing a patient's health throughout pregnancy. Machine 
learning can help identify any potential risks to the fetus and ensure it's health till the day it's 
born. In the future, someone is likely to develop AI that would be able to analyze genetic data 
from the fetus and predict what kind of health issues it has or will be susceptible to, after which 
preventative care can begin. This will dramatically reduce any risks to the mother or the child 
and make sure everything goes smoothly.
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Employee Management and Office 
Maintenance in HR 
People don't always like to admit it, but AI 
can help the HR department manage 
employees and their productivity better than 
any other tool or system can. It can be used 
in the office not only as a helpful assistant for 
all employees, but also to monitor their KPIs 
in real time. These kinds of measures, 
however, do need to be taken with the 
consent of employees. 
HR can even predict which employees might be about to leave the company and suggest steps 
to turn things around. It could also provide HR with insights to understand what matters to 
employees and what steps are necessary to ensure satisfaction.
Another great use of AI isn't with the employees but with the office building itself. AI can help 
manage temperatures, turn lights off and on when it detects people in the room, and help save a 
ton of power.
Improving Operations Through Automation
If there's a business process that you wish took less time than it does, you can make it happen 
with something called Robot Process Automation. As the name indicates, RPA involves the use 
of robots, and it does involve a little trial and error to get started — even more than others! 
Companies usually accomplish RPA through outsourcing since it requires a higher level of 
expertise and more resources than most companies typically have. 
After that, you can use AI to program the 
robots and predict when they need repairs or 
when a particular problem is likely to occur. 
One of the most common ways robots have 
been integrated into businesses is on the 
factory floor, managing inventory and running 
side by side with humans, working as a 
helping hand. 
Retail outlets and grocery stores have used robots and AI to develop self-checkouts and 
automated invoicing. Not only does this reduce the need for human workers in grocery stores 
and is ideal for our current world, but it's also giving birth to grocery stores without a single 
cashier or worker in places like Japan and Canada.
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Other Uses for AI 
Many companies are using AI in other ways not included in this list. 
It’s really not surprising when you consider that AI applications are 
virtually limitless.
Deciding where to use AI technology in your business doesn't need to happen right after 
reading this section. It often involves various company meetings and even a few consultation 
sessions with a data scientist or AI firm. These experts can help you decide how AI will benefit 
you most and help your business grow. 
AI and the Future of Business: What every CEO must know about AI to thrive or perish Page  47
4.1 Is AI Really Taking Human Jobs?
The biggest objection people have to 
the existence of AI in the world is that 
it might take their jobs. 
They see it as something that threatens their livelihood, and there’s no denying that 
it might happen, at least for some jobs.
But will AI really replace human labor altogether? Well, a 
lot of experts still believe that robots are “quite stupid,” as 
Sean Chou, CEO of Chicago-based AI startup Catalytic 
told Bulitin.
It’s an established fact that we’re a long way away from That said, every time change comes, people 
general artificial intelligence that can truly replace have to adapt to it. Sure, some jobs might be 
humans, and we never have to reach that point. Like easier for AI to take over, but someone has to 
anything, AI comes with pros and cons, and its create the AI and run it too, right? Experts 
presence will inevitably change the world of business guess that some people might have to learn 
— but hasn’t that been the case for any new new skills or think about opting for a different 
technology? The tech industry has been growing at career, but as some jobs disappear, others will 
alarming rates, and even the generation before ours be created. Just take a look back at the 
never imagined having access to the kind of enormous growth in the number of Data 
technology we use today. Science jobs in the last five years! 
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The Jobs AI Will In fact, it’s standard practice for a lot of 
Replace writers and publishers to use proofreading software. Currently, these programs are not 
intelligent enough to completely replace a 
live person, but that may change in the 
future. 
Another great example of automation in the 
making is how companies like DHL are 
testing drone technology in remote corners 
of the world. They have successfully 
delivered medicine and essentials to 
There’s no way around the fact that AI will difficult places for human delivery services 
replace some jobs, and it will be harder and to reach. Currently, the technology is 
harder for people who worked in, say, functional, but the shift from using human 
customer service or in grocery stores to find delivery services to drones is too expensive. 
similar work. If you want to know the But maybe that’s just the current version of 
chances of AI technology replacing jobs or businesses in the past, thinking it would be 
the likelihood of it replacing yours, you can too expensive to start using computers in 
check out a website called “Will Robots the office. 
Take My Job?” to find out if they will. A 
group of experts from the Forbes People with jobs on that list will no doubt 
Technology Council believe that over 13 need to change course and think about their 
jobs will be fully automated in the next 10 to career. Employees should start consulting 
15 years. Here are a few of them: experts or thinking about the future of the industry they want to join, more specifically, 
Customer Service the influence technology has on it.
Data Entry 
Email Marketing Big companies like Amazon 
Invoicing are investing in training their 
Telemarketing 
Couriers and Delivery Services employees to move to highly 
Proofreading skilled jobs that won’t be at 
Retail Salesperson Jobs risk and announced in 2019 that it would invest $700 
In any of these jobs, you might have already million into training over 
seen an uptick in automation. In 100,000 employees. We 
telemarketing, for example, companies have feel this is the best choice 
been using robocalls more and more often for many organizations.
to get their work done. 
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The Jobs It Can’t Even in a world like that, here are jobs that 
Replace AI isn’t likely to replace: 
Human Resource Management 
Sales and Marketing Managers 
Chief Executives 
Event Planners 
Creative Writers 
Software Developers 
Public Relations Managers 
Graphic Designers and Visual Artists 
Every job in this list involves a lot of critical 
While AI is powerful and functions well in thinking and a deep understanding of 
many different scenarios, there are human beings and their emotions. For 
limitations to what it can achieve. Certain example, a public relations specialist needs 
aspects of the world will always be under to understand how people will react to 
human control, and maybe if a general AI is certain content and even manage reactions 
ever created, it will help humans instead of when they don’t turn out to be what they 
replacing us entirely. While AI might one day expected. 
be of similar intelligence to humans, it’s hard 
to imagine we would create AI that could This kind of deep thinking cannot be 
replace us entirely. Many science fiction expected from AI technology at the 
movies, like “Astro Boy,” for example, moment. The same goes for writing. As it 
portray a future such as this. However, all stands,
the robots in that movie were programmed 
to be incapable of harming human beings, 
and people very much still had jobs. 
That said, it’s highly unlikely to create a AI software can learn from 
society where humans aren’t needed to different authors and 
function, but even if that does roll around, replicate their styles on 
would that be so bad? Think about it. In the paper, but it doesn’t have 
many scenarios presented by the the capabilities to craft a 
Smithsonian Magazine in 2018, AI will compelling story. Don’t get 
change the world for the better. Finally, us wrong. The content will all 
human beings will be able to sit back and be grammatically correct 
relax, leaving the hard work of maintaining 
society to intelligent robots who might not and within the rules of 
experience emotions like humans do but are English, but it won’t have 
still interested in improving the lives and that “human touch.” 
future of humanity. 
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The Jobs AI Will That will surely change in the next few 
Create decades, and when whole cities are run on technology like this, there will be a need for 
consultants and planning experts who can 
keep the city running. This might also be 
something that city planners and local 
government itself might invest in, and 
instead of the people running everything 
right now losing their jobs, they might just 
learn to adapt and flourish in their new roles.
 
Whether AI ends up creating jobs or taking 
With new technology, human beings will them away from human beings isn’t the 
face new challenges. Instead of AI taking question you should ask yourself as 
over jobs, people need to focus on all the entrepreneurs and CEOs. If you know 
jobs it will create. It has already increased anything about human history, it’s that 
the demand for Data Scientists in every change is inevitable, and it’s unwise to resist 
industry, but that’s not all. With AI it only because you feel it might be bad for 
technology being the norm, every company humanity. People thought the same thing 
will need someone to run and manage it, about paper, about mobile phones, and now 
and not all of these people will need to be as they have the same attitude about AI, but 
tech-savvy as a Data Scientist. After all, you that won’t slow it down. The reason is 
don’t need a software engineer or simple: for every person unwilling to 
programming expert to make and manage embrace this technology and all of its 
your excel sheets, even though someone benefits, there are at least two who see the 
along those lines created them! This need immense opportunity for business growth 
might create jobs for someone named an IT and are ready to invest in the future. 
Facilitator, who is charged with working with 
AI programs and tailoring them to the needs 
of the employees. AI is just what you make of it, and it’s up to you to 
With the onset of this new technology, a lot determine how to use it in 
of ethical questions will arise. Just like there your own business. We 
are sensitivity readers in the world of writing advise that instead of taking 
who work to make sure the contents of a jobs away from your 
book aren’t offensive or hurtful to a employees, you can invest in 
particular community, we might see a rise in technology that makes 
the same kinds of jobs for AI technology. them better at their jobs or 
makes those jobs easier for 
AI is no doubt a normal part of our lives now, them. 
but not a very big one.
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4.2 Will AI Take Over the World?
When the computer was first 
invented, people speculated on 
how it will take jobs away from 
humans
and how it might one day take over the world.  In a way, computers did take over the 
world. Every person now has a small computer in their pocket, and we’re better off 
for it, wouldn’t you agree? 
 
When we tend to fear a piece of technology, we don’t 
actually fear the technology itself, but what humans can 
do with it. 
The people who invented fire probably had same debate keeps coming up in 
the same dilemma, but imagine if they shied conversations revolving around AI as well. 
away from it because people might use it to Everything in the world can be harmful in the 
burn others instead of regulating it like we did hands of the wrong person, but in the hands 
by making arson illegal! Imagine a world of the right people, AI is already saving lives 
where the wheel was invented but then and improving others. As for AI growing a 
rejected, because people didn’t want mind of its own and shutting people up in 
criminals getting around faster. pods like in the Matrix, we wouldn’t bet on it, 
and here’s why. 
Turning away from technology is hardly the 
way human beings will prosper, and the
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It Lacks the Tools for Survival 
We talked about the difference between narrow or weak AI and general or strong AI a while ago, 
so let’s revisit that. 
To compete with human beings in terms of 
survival and functionality, it needs to be good 
at a number of tasks like reproduction, critical 
thinking, evolution, the ability to grow and heal, 
to reason, and to predict the future accurately 
and act on it. As it currently stands, there aren’t 
even any robots that can move that well 
autonomously, much less make more of their 
own kind. 
AI can get extremely good at a single task, but it can’t develop the “general” capabilities it 
would need to ensure its survival independent of human beings.
If we look back at biological history, we know for certain that for any kind of animal to survive, it 
had to adapt and evolve. Animals did this through selective breeding and the survival of the 
fittest. From the most basic cell division, we might understand (to some extent) how it’s all done, 
but the more we learn, the more we know that human beings are incapable of creating 
something that works just as well but is based on its own, completely different blueprint. AI 
robots would need to be capable of adapting and evolving independently to be a threat to 
human life. 
It's "Artificial" Intelligence
Most of these limitations are directly related to the way AI is created and trained. In the last two 
decades, the techniques used to develop AI haven’t changed at all. Rather, AI has evolved and 
improved because we now have more data and more powerful computers to train it with.
Machine learning works by trying out every 
possible solution to a problem and then 
observing what works. The AI then recalibrates 
itself based on these findings, but it can’t 
practically become good at more than one main 
task this way. This is why whenever a new need 
in business arises, people have to either train AI 
from data specific to the use they have in mind or 
invest in the creation of a new AI altogether. 
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This is a huge setback in AI’s presumed journey to world domination. Another obstacle is the 
definition of intelligence itself. One factor of intelligence is the ability to foresee future problems 
and come up with their solutions. AI robots are nowhere near the point where they can 
recognize flaws in their own design or foresee any challenges a robot they create would have to 
overcome and actively plan for it. But this ability to foresee problems is essential to any good 
design, be it for a car, a plan for a house, or even the design for a simple dress. 
As long as AI can only imitate an understanding of the world and not process change or 
comprehend different factors that make up an environment, there's no hope of it ever 
surpassing human beings. Scientific theories like Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle and the 
Quantum Theory support the idea that the universe is random. So random, in fact, that putting 
together a bunch of numbers can only get AI so far. So in a way, the whole universe stands in the 
way of AI ever being too advanced. 
We Don't Completely Understand Humans 
The only kind of AI that has a hope of ever 
coming close to human beings is general AI, and 
scientists don’t even have any theories right now 
that are possible. Many have suggested making 
a copy of the human brain, but we don’t even 
fully know how that works yet. Keep in mind that 
robots and AI are all human creations. You can’t 
fully replicate what you don’t yet understand, 
which is why a general AI is still a thing of 
imagination
As long as scientists can only speculate on what is inside a person’s head, they can’t replicate it, 
and narrow AI virtually cannot take over the world on its own.
AI Lacks a “Survival Instinct” 
Think about all the AI that has been made up 
until now. All of it is designed to help human 
beings in one way or another. Helping doctors 
diagnose diseases faster, aiding customers with 
their problems and queries in a call center, 
ensuring security and safety on the road are all 
things that AI is programmed to do. Beyond 
these tasks, AI has no “desire” to survive or 
anything like that. The best it can manage is an 
imitation that means nothing. 
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Take a look around and ask yourself, without an intrinsic desire to survive and reproduce 
something that only living things possess why would a robot that has been programmed to only 
do one thing rebel against the creators? Why would a robot that’s created to heal human beings 
turn against us? Sure, science fiction has many wild reasons, but now that you know how AI 
actually works, can you think about a machine learning algorithm really managing to do that? 
Historical Perspective 
The speculation that machines will take over 
the world is not new. People have been 
reluctant to fully accept and embrace 
AI technology throughout the ages based on 
uninformed assumptions. But when you take a 
look around you, the answer is staring right 
back at you. 
Computers didn’t take over the world or replace human beings. Rather, they work side-by-side 
with their operators and help make them more efficient and better at their jobs.
Instead of all the technology we’ve created so far becoming a threat, it has improved life 
immensely and helps us do what we want. Sure, some people have used the technology for evil 
purposes, but even in those cases, computers, smartphones, and existing technology have all 
done nothing but follow a human’s instructions and aid them in what they wanted to do. 
As it stands, that won’t change any time soon. In order for humans to truly create something 
equal to us, we’ll need to first understand how we work, completely change the way AI is 
created, and much more. Even then, the chances are slim! 
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4.3 How To Put Your Employees’ Minds 
at Ease 
It’s time to acknowledge the fact that 
many of your employees, if not most, 
will have the same misgivings about 
AI that you once did. 
Only, they’re not in charge of running a whole business, 
and they don’t need to worry about how everything is 
changing in the industry!
They may be strangers to AI in the workplace, employees why they need it, too. Understanding 
but they’re no strangers to change. Company the reasons for resistance to AI and helping your 
policies keep changing, mergers and changes in employees understand what AI is is the key to a 
management happen, and sometimes smooth transition from the old days to the 
employees leave the company as more come in. modern age for your business. 
Your job as the leader of the group is to make 
sure everyone feels heard and seen as change Here are a few things the employees of your 
rolls around, and in the case of getting them to organization will need to be able to fully accept 
accept AI, that would include telling your and embrace AI in the workplace: 
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Your Employees Tell Them Why They 
Should Trust You Need AI
As the leader of the team or owner of the It shouldn’t seem like AI is just some hip 
company, it's your job to make sure that new technology that you want to try out or 
your employees trust the company or that you’re burdening your employees with 
organization to look out for them. They your eccentric experiments. And trust us, 
should trust that their interests will be many employees of large corporations feel 
safeguarded, and they will be told what’s this way about certain company policies 
going on even through big changes in the they don’t understand. It also serves as a 
workplace. This is only possible when reason for them to skip that protocol at the 
managers and business owners practice slightest inconvenience. 
what they preach and show through their 
actions that they care about their A big example of this would be the tellers at 
employees. a bank. The bank tellers may not understand 
all the reasons they have certain workflows, 
This isn’t something you can start working but they do know that all the protocols are in 
on as soon as you want to introduce change place to safeguard them and the bank 
into the workplace. Rather, it’s something against any kind of liability. These 
that you build over time. It helps when employees can see the value in the 
employees feel seen and understood while processes. 
working for you and when they know you 
will stand up for them when it really counts. On the other hand, let’s consider waiters in a 
This way, any information you give them restaurant that are forced to learn all the 
about the new technology will be met with items on a big menu. The restaurant workers 
open-mindedness instead of skepticism aren’t told the reason for doing this, and 
and reluctance. they don’t see the point in memorizing the 
whole menu, so they’re more likely to skip it 
or take shortcuts where they can.
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If you want to make sure this isn’t you, share team feels comfortable with the change, 
your findings and opinions with your they’ll be more likely to warm up to it 
employees. Set up a meeting and tell them themselves. 
about why you feel like this step is needed, 
how AI might help them, and if you’re in the Answer Their 
early stages, you can ask them what part of 
the business they think needs it the most. Questions
When employees know why AI is needed, 
they’ll be more willing to adopt it into their 
work. 
Keep Them Involved 
Employees will be more likely to trust AI to 
make decisions they previously made 
themselves if they know how the new 
technology works and understand the 
parameters it uses to make decisions. 
You need to keep your employees involved Based on research carried out by Mark 
in the change and give them regular Marone for Preparing People for Success in 
updates about where the organization the Era of AI, he discovered that employees 
stands in the AI adoption process. were more willing to accept appraisals from 
AI used by the HR department when they 
Involvement doesn't just end there, though. knew the parameters they were being 
Once you've decided how to implement AI judged on. 
in the business, talk to the employees who 
would use it. This way, you can find out what Bias seeping into AI programs and their 
challenges they’ll likely face through the parameters for judgment was one reason 
transition and plan ahead. why facial recognition software for law 
Maintaining transparency will also help your enforcement officers hasn’t become 
employees feel less threatened by AI and mainstream yet. Similarly, employees might 
help bring even the most skeptical ones on fear the same bias becoming part of 
board. When they start seeing it as a tool to software built for their management and 
help them instead of something built to appraisal. These are all valid concerns, 
replace them and see all the steps which further leads to the importance of 
management is taking to make sure the listening to your employees, not just making sure they’re listening to you. 
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Encouraging open communication will only Being forced to use it, in that case, will only 
lead to productive discussions — they may lead to dwindling employee satisfaction and 
not be what you want to hear sometimes, poor results for you. This is why it's 
but they will certainly be good for the results important that you invest in their training 
you hope to achieve. and allow some time for them to familiarize 
themselves with whatever software you 
Provide Adequate bring into the business. 
Training and Communicate 
Resources Targets 
It's your job to make sure everything goes 
smoothly from the minute you decide to Once AI is up and running, you need to tell 
bring AI into the business to the moment it your employees what you hope to see 
starts working as you want it to. This happening. If you have any short-term 
includes providing your employees with the targets for performance, tell your employees 
tools they need to understand how it works, about them. This will encourage them 
especially the least tech-savvy ones. further once they achieve them and help 
them feel more satisfied with the change. 
You can ask your Data Science team to help 
you with this task and even hold training Short-term targets and rewards are also a 
sessions or a series of workshop days to great idea to boost morale while at the same 
make sure they're familiar with the time keeping the work on track for long-
technology and ready to start using it. In term success. Of course, this can only work 
addition, you can provide them with written if your employees feel confident working 
material that helps them deal with any with AI, so the training and facilitation phase 
problems or challenges they face each day. is important. 
If your employees don't find it easy to use AI 
in the long run, they might grow unsatisfied 
and feel like they were better off without it.
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Appreciate Past and Maintain a Positive 
Present Performance Attitude Towards 
Change
One of the best ways to boost morale in the 
face of uncertainty is to talk about past 
success, so don’t forget to mention it when This is something that should be part of 
you deliver the news of future change to your organizational culture — a willingness 
your employees. If you’re an old and openness to change. This not only 
organization, it’s unlikely that this is the first increases the chances for your business to 
time employees have faced any kind of adapt and stay ahead of the game, but it 
change around. In a small business’s case, also means that you’ll stay ahead of the 
employees might even expect change but competition by being the first to take up a 
can still be skeptical about it — especially new trend — or maybe even start a few. If 
when it comes to disruptive technology. you’re quick in your reactions to shifts in the 
industry, your company will be able to live to 
Your employees need to understand that the see another decade. 
old system not working is not because of 
their own failures and that this change isn’t 
punishment for them. Talk to them about 
how this is just your reaction to a changing 
business environment and that it is a 
gesture of your trust in their ability to handle 
challenges thrown their way. 
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4.4 Only Tech Startups Can Use AI: Why 
This Myth Is Holding You Back
The world of AI seems intimidating 
and often too complicated for the 
average person to get the hang of,
and till now, AI was thought to only be something tech giants like Google, Apple and 
the likes of those could use. 
That’s changing rapidly, though, and people are slowly 
starting to realize how useful and versatile AI actually is.
There are many examples that showcase the Sure, AI might have used a tech startup as their 
versatility of AI. One of the best examples is main product or an essential part of it, but AI 
how AI software developed to recognize and isn’t just for consumers to take advantage of. 
invoice different types of bread and pastries in a Whole businesses have seen rapid increases in 
bakery was modified to do the same with cancer their productivity and sales with the help of AI. If 
cells. The same piece of technology, when you’re still not sure, let’s discuss some real life 
trained with different sets of data and tweaked a examples of AI being used in non-tech 
little, was able to give us either an invoice for businesses. 
bread or a cancer diagnosis! This is precisely 
the reason why AI has found so many uses in 
virtually every field of business there is, from 
agriculture to news reporting, to FinTech. 
AI and the Future of Business: What every CEO must know about AI to thrive or perish Page  61
Johnson & Johnson: bread if they had hundreds of variants in the 
The company is using AI in the HR sector store, and if they were all unwrapped, but 
much like many others. They let AI sift handling them would have been a huge 
through and pick ideal candidates for jobs, issue. No packaging meant no barcodes to 
and they’re not alone. Companies are using scan, so the employees would need to 
AI for HR purposes more and more now, memorize all the different types of bread 
mainly to sort through job applications, and pastries along with their prices. Their 
looking for the best fit, and even predicting solution was AI software that could 
future problems like low employee recognize different kinds of bread. It took 
satisfaction and steps to find a solution. five years to develop, and in the end, it paid 
off. This is just one example of how AI is 
Caesars: used in the retail industry. 
The hotel and casino group uses AI to 
estimate how much a customer will spend Amazon: 
on their hotels, use targeted ads, etc., to get Many might assume that Amazon is a tech 
them to spend the most money. This is the business, but we’re going to talk about how 
same technique that’s taking over the they use collaborative robots, or “Cobots” 
marketing industry. Gone are the days when in their warehouses something that even 
you had to depend on things like cold calls non-tech businesses can do for their 
and pamphlets for leads. Now many storage units. These cobots are robots 
organizations let AI do most of the lead designed to work alongside humans and 
generation work for them. help them with many tasks, which increases 
productivity immensely. 
Vodafone: 
This is another company whose main ASOS: 
product has nothing to do with AI, yet it The clothing store, ASOS, allows customers 
employs AI software to predict problems in to walk in with the photo of a particular look 
their network and to proactively solve them. worn by a celebrity or model, scan it, and 
This kind of prediction isn’t just used for then receive suggestions to reproduce the 
problem solving but also to predict demand same look for less money. Of course, all the 
for a company’s products and to save software’s suggestions are for clothes that 
money on inventory that would otherwise go are sold at the store, increasing the 
unsold. likelihood of customers making a purchase.  
Andersen Bakery: It’s pretty clear that AI can find many 
We suppose we should mention the bakery uses in a non-tech company. AI can be 
that commissioned the creation of helpful with everything from employee 
“BakeryScan”, the software that later found software to help them with their work to 
applications in healthcare and many more streamlining work assignment and 
fields. The bakery conducted market employee tracking, employee 
research and found that they sold more management, and countless other tasks.
AI and the Future of Business: What every CEO must know about AI to thrive or perish Page  62
How You’ll Fall Behind Without AI
But what happens when you let AI and the idea of going high-tech intimidate you into backing 
out? Well, while you’re making educated guesses about the market for the next year, your 
competitors will be using AI to make predictions with the same accuracy a team of professional 
statisticians would if they had unlimited resources and unlimited time — only they’re doing it 
with the help of AI in the span of a few minutes.
Think about what organization your customers 
will prefer to take their business to if one of 
them only provides customer service during 
office hours, while the other provides in-app 
chatbots that help them with anything they 
need 24/7. Not only this, but the chatbots 
understand contextual meanings and can 
suggest actionable solutions and the option to 
talk to a customer service representative if the 
AI cannot find a solution for them. 
Alternatively, imagine a scenario where people are using the same kind of technology to 
generate leads and market their products to an audience with better chances of converting. You 
may be surprised to believe that your competitors might already be using AI to get ahead. In the 
next few years, it will become expensive and inefficient for you to continue operating on the 
notion that AI isn’t for your non-tech business. 
The Growing Popularity of AI 
Many of the companies who rejected computers and the internet when they both first came 
around no longer exist today. In the future, the same fate might await organizations who say no 
to AI, and here’s why. 
In 2017, companies all over the world spent 
over $21.8 billion on AI-related mergers and 
on buying AI-related startups so that they 
would have access to the technology. The 
number was 26 times higher than that in 
2015. Since then, it has only increased as 
more and more companies look to leverage AI 
for their business. As a result, AI is being 
talked about more, too  being mentioned over 
seven times more in earnings reports in 2017 
than in 2015. 
AI and the Future of Business: What every CEO must know about AI to thrive or perish Page  63
Small businesses that pop up today hire tech-savvy, young employees who find little to no 
trouble in navigating AI software. In the next decade, a whole generation of people who grew up 
going to online school and asking Alexa to make their shopping lists will be entering the 
workforce. This is when people are coming up with ideas made to challenge and disrupt the way 
incumbent organizations and big players in the field do things, and the change is already being 
felt. 
The Challenges You Might Face 
We’re not saying that the path to an AI future will be easy for your organization, and it’s hardly 
as simple as installing new software into your computers, but we’re saying that it must be done 
to ensure survival.
Integrating AI into your business will take lots of trial and error and even a little failure at first, but 
once you figure out what method works for you, you’ll see massive improvement.
AI and the Future of Business: What every CEO must know about AI to thrive or perish Page  64
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