These days, everyone has an algorithm.
What that really means is everyone’s using AI to monitor all your activity and customize your consumer experience. So when Facebook, Google, Netflix, or your local grocery store talk about their algorithm, they’re really talking about their AI.
AI is prevalent in our lives; yet for many, it still seems like a far fetched idea from a movie, set in the distant future.
We’re all interacting with artificial intelligence in everyday life.
I decided to make a note of every time I interacted with AI for 24 hours. It was a great reminder that we live in what most of us used to consider “the distant future”.
It starts when I wake up. I roll over, open my eyes, and look at my inbox. Some emails made it through, which I see in my notifications, and others were sent to spam. There’s an algorithm there—which means there’s artificial intelligence as well.
Before I leave my house, my phone sends an update on traffic and suggests I take a different route. I hadn’t put in a calendar appointment. My phone knew that I go to work every morning around the same time and acted accordingly. Spooky? I don’t care: It saves me 15 minutes on my commute. Thank you, virtual assistant, for using AI specifically to benefit my life.
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I get to work. My news feed knows that I’m on a quest to read every AI article that’s ever been written, and serves up suggested reads accordingly.
I start getting hungry, so I ask my virtual assistant where to eat. It knows me well and a fantastic slice of pizza is the result.
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I swipe my card to pay. Thousands of transactions run in the same second as mine, but AI is there checking every single one of them for fraud. Of course, buying pizza at lunch time right next to my office fits perfectly into my algorithm, so there’s no fraud alert.
Back at work, I run a Google search looking for new AI solutions to write about. I find exactly what I’m looking for—and wouldn’t expect anything less from the king of search and algorithms.
I get home and check the mail, where I find a bunch of paper coupons and ads from my grocery store. That gets me thinking of the story where Target’s AI exposed that a girl was pregnant before her family even knew. Looking at my ads, it doesn’t appear anyone in my household is pregnant—but we are definitely big fans of Honey Bunches of Oats.
The rest of the day follows the same theme. Facebook serves up a retargeting ad for the AI solutions I was looking at earlier. Netflix loads up our favorite shows before we even search them. Even as I fall asleep, my thermostat is measuring the temperature in my house and adjusting the furnace accordingly. I sleep comfortably through the night to wake up to another day where I will, without a doubt, benefit from AI.
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Notice that my interactions with the businesses and services above weren’t forced. Thanks to AI, it all had a smooth flow. That’s how it’s supposed to be—it’s about adding value without disrupting. Consumers will only become more accustomed to AI in their everyday lives.
The companies who understand artificial intelligence and algorithms (or even better, create their own AI) will be the winners in this new economy. They’ll touch more consumer lives across more channels and experiences.