What is AI and what is its impact?
AI is a field of science that seeks to develop technological solutions capable of simulating human cognitive functions. AI can learn and help us make better decisions based on the data it receives, enabling it to contribute to solving complex problems in various areas.
It is clear that AI is transforming the world. It is now being used in a wide variety of applications, from virtual assistants in smartphones and machine translation systems, to disease diagnosis, movie recommendation systems and e-commerce. In addition, many companies are exploring how to leverage AI to improve efficiency in their processes and to develop new solutions in a number of areas.
A recent McKinsey study, entitled ‘ The State of AI in Early 2024’, states that 72% of companies worldwide are already using AI, a significant growth compared to 55% in 2023. This demonstrates how businesses are recognising the value of AI to increase efficiency, improve decision-making and create new products and services.
How the cloud computing framework can be used for AI development
Cloud computing is a technology that enables the use of on-demand computing resources over the Internet, including servers, data storage, networks, among others. This technology is used for various purposes, such as storing files (text, photos and videos) for end users and for companies to develop and store applications of any size.
According to Gartner, by 2028, more than 50% of enterprises will use industry cloud platforms to accelerate their business initiatives. With the rapid growth and sheer scale that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has achieved, it is clear that the cloud can help organisations in both developing and deploying AI solutions, for a number of reasons, including:
- Scalability and processing power: AI models generally require a large volume of data processing and computational power to run efficiently. With the cloud, businesses of any size can access these resources in a scalable, on-demand manner. They can scale their processing capacity up or down as needed, without having to invest in a physical infrastructure.
- Storage of large volumes of data: AI relies on large volumes of data to operate efficiently. Cloud computing offers an extensive storage structure with high availability, allowing companies to store and access large data sets from anywhere at any time.
- Cost reduction: Maintaining the physical infrastructure required for AI solutions can be extremely costly. The cloud reduces these costs, allowing enterprises to use only the resources they need, paying on a pay-as-you-go basis. This democratises access to AI, making it viable even for startups and small businesses.
- Cloud-native AI services: Many cloud providers also offer out-of-the-box AI solutions, such as speech recognition, image analysis, natural language processing and machine learning. These services help enterprises adopt AI quickly without having to build everything from scratch. One example of this is AI as a service (AIaaS) platforms, which offer tools and APIs to implement AI directly from the cloud.
It is clear that this synergy between AI and cloud computing is shaping the future of technology and business. According to Gartner, by 2028, AI adoption will culminate in more than 50% of cloud computing resources being dedicated to AI workloads, a significant increase compared to less than 10% in 2023.
Finally, the combination of artificial intelligence and cloud computing represents a valuable opportunity for business and society, provided it is used in the right, structured and sustainable way over the long term. By leveraging these technologies, organisations can not only optimise their processes and reduce costs, but also drive innovation and improve the customer experience.
