Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is renowned for making dire predictions about how artificial intelligence will be a threat to humankind. While it's not yet self-evolving to the point of being an imminent danger, in 2017 AI did grow like crazy. At least that's the topic several CEOs wanted to mention when asked what they saw as the biggest trends in tech this year.
1. The use of artificial intelligence grew in retail.
"Automation and artificial intelligence (AI) have a symbiotic relationship and pose both a blessing and a threat to the future of commerce. With innovations in data mining and automation, the ability for large companies to mine data is vastly improving. This is creating a shift from helpful automation towards immersed AI and immense amounts of data are fueling predictive consumerism that furthers the ability for large corporations to accurately predict and recommend products, shaping consumer habits. This paves the way for traditional verticals of commerce and manufacturing to dissolve, and large data aggregators move directly into manufacturing. Small competitors need beware."
--Bernard Luthi, CEO of Monoprice, an ecommerce seller of high-quality consumer electronics and products direct-to-consumer at affordable prices
2. Social listening helped brands identify new opportunities.
"Social listening provides brands with a bird's eye view of trending topics, sentiment and conversations related to their industry, products and public perception. Brands from L'Oreal to Starbucks are using insights gained from social listening to improve their products, develop new offerings and design more effective marketing campaigns. Given the speed of social and the breadth of insights available from billions of users, more brands are turning to this unfettered focus group for valuable business insights. While many brands understand the value of social media monitoring for customer service, we anticipate more brands will realize the opportunity social listening presents and taking greater advantage in the coming year."