We have often heard of the various uses of Artificial Intelligence in our quotidian lives. Whether it is providing economic benefits to organizations, devising health care models or predicting future trends, the technology has taken over almost all domains of our life. Introduced in the 1950s, the concept of AI was gathering steam for a considerable amount of time until it gained popularity in the last two decades. Our view on AI has now shifted from a mere advancement in technology to taking the center stage in helping humanity. However there might be some areas in which one would never expect it to play a key role. Here are some unexpected areas where it has helped bring vast advances.
Astronomy
AI is used to classify objects in space and analyze complex astronomical data. Deep learning technologies were used to build a framework called Morpheus to classify galaxies, and stars and study the evolution of galaxies. AI has also been used to identify asteroids and predict potentially dangerous crashes.
Radiology
In India, the population is 1.3 billion whereas the number of radiologists is merely 15,000. AI acts as a tool to dramatically improve the accessibility and reach of health care systems. By expediting the process of screening images, detecting symptoms and diseases, it helps increase chances of survival. It has been used to identify and localize abnormalities on X-rays, MRI and CT scans. With the disparity in the number of specialists to the number of patients, this has helped make health care more reachable and affordable for all.
Critical Care
In critical care, time is of the essence. A patient comes into the emergency room and is shortly taken to get a ct scan. Rather than getting these read by specialists which can be a time consuming task due to their sheer minority, AI algorithms review the images and detect certain life-threatening conditions, such as a collapsed lung. An alert or notification is then immediately sent to the concerned doctor.
Sports
It is used to enhance performance of players by providing them with more personalized training programs and performance analysis. For instance, finding clips of the winning tactics or visual analysis of players helps players and coaches develop counter strategies and have a more immersive experience. Data of players such as their height, weight, BMI, alertness and strength is collected and used to form better teams, make better decisions, and increase chances of winning.
Horoscope
Based on the position of moon, planets, and zodiac signs, forecasts are made regarding an individual’s future. One must enter their time, date, and place of birth, after which AI algorithms calculate the user’s birth chart and paint a complete picture of the sky at the moment the user was born in order to make further predictions. Data from NASA and methods of renowned astrologers are used to make the forecasts sound.
Automation of fortune telling and tarot readings have also been possible with the use of the dominant technology.
Social behavior
A good example of this would be the IBM Watson Personality Insights service which uses linguistic analytics to deduce an individual’s traits from emails, text messages, tweets, and other social media posts they have made.
Fashion industry
The fashion industry is always changing, as new trends rise and fall. Along with improving customer relations and marketing strategies by means of data analysis, AI also assists designers with analyzing past designs and predicting future trends.
Food industry
We often come across recommendations of food items on delivery apps like Zomato and Swiggy. By analyzing data about the customer’s mood, age, past purchases, and preferences, predictions and recommendations can be made to customers. Chatbots can also recommend dishes from the menu based on user’s ingredient choices. This helps save time browsing through menus and enhances customer experience. Smart refrigerators determine the status of contents inside the fridge and help avoid food wastage. Through image processing to detect food spoilage and odor sensors to sniff the presence of ethylene, various alcohols, acetic acid, short-chain fatty acids and other volatile organic compounds and automatic ordering of depleted ingredients, they help improve quality of life.
Music
A recent fad developed when Spotify gave a review of users’ favorite artists and songs at the end of 2020. AI algorithms sort through options and deliver recommendations to listeners based on what they have listened to in the past. Furthermore, AI can create or assist musicians in creating music. Reinforcement learning is used to learn characteristics and patterns of music and create innovative, enjoyable music. It is also used to classify and recommend songs based on genres, preferences and listening history.
Matching people
AI algorithms encourage more tailored, accurate, personalized matching of individuals on dating apps. They can memorize behavior and customize the list of people one is most likely to match with based on it. They analyze previous matches and show only the top potential dates to increase chances of finding love. Certain apps show matches based on questionnaires or location based data. In some cases, important factors like level of agreeableness, closeness, happiness, and extroversion are also used to make good matches.
Against pandemics
Amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, AI has provided assistance to help maintain social distancing by the use of IoT applications, to ensure safety of individuals by the use of face mask recognition software, analyze data regarding deaths based on gender, age groups and pre-existing conditions, track the spread of the pandemic, detect groups more susceptible to the disease, identify critically ill patients, detect people with fever in large crowds by the use of AI-powered smart glasses, and contact tracing apps to detect close contact and alert people in case of contagion risk.
Life on other plants
AI can make predictions on the likelihood of life on other planets and help in the detection of extraterrestrial life.
Solving mysteries
Marine robots explore and gather data from below the sea, which is further analyzed to discover hidden patterns. AI algorithms accelerate the exploration and study of deep sea ecosystems and can help identify the links between the world’s oceans.
AI for sustainability
The AI for Good Foundation provides assistance in developing technological solutions and AI policy frameworks to meet the needs of the population, demonstrate a zero-footprint AI model, and further the UN Sustainable Development Goals including No Poverty, Zero Hunger, Quality Education, Gender Equality, Sustainable Cities, Climate Action, and more.