IIeX Keynote: What is AI and Smart Data

GetWizer’s Head of Strategic Innovation, Peter Mackey’s keynote presentation at IIeX North America 2018

Curious about artificial intelligence? Interested to know whether it is just a buzzword, or the future? From startups to big enterprises, within and across industries, more companies are investing in AI today. But what is AI? And what does Smart Data have to do with it?

GetWizer’s Head of Strategic Innovation, Peter Mackey, in his keynote presentation at IIeX North America 2018, simply defines AI as “computers performing tasks that humans do or humans that can’t do at scale.”

MAKING SENSE OF BIG DATA

Smart Data, on the other hand, is “making sense of big data.” Big data has been around for quite a while. But it is only recently that humans can make sense of it. This new capability allows “better visibility into what we can do, how we can make data smart, and therefore actionable,” Mackey notes.

It is unquestionable that AI has gained traction so fast over the past few years. Wondering what powers self-driving cars, online shopping, recommendations engines, facial recognition? Yes, AI. Looking into the market research industry paints a different picture — Mackey discusses how the industry hasn’t kept up with the pace. The research process is still linear. While AI and automation do help make market research more cost-effective and high-quality, AI can do more.

SUPERCHARGING INSIGHTS WITH AI

What is AI’s big promise to market research then? It is transforming the linear thinking process into something that is “living, breathing, active, always on, real-time process.” It means having a “brain” that continuously receives input in an interactive, holistic way to produce supercharged insights. It uses and feeds multiple forms of data (social, search, sales, and more) into a dashboard that is always accessible.

This is the future of the market research industry. AI is not just a buzzword, it is the future.