Intelligent Machines: The Rise of the AIoT

Artificial intelligence (AI) has existed in the public consciousness for decades. The (mostly) sentient machines  playing the villains in Hollywood movies have never been realistic depictions of the technology, but they have left an impression, nonetheless. AI has proved as exciting to the layman as it is to the expert. Usually based in remote data centers, AI is capable of collecting and examining immense volumes of data, generating insights based on analytical algorithms. With varying degrees of autonomy, these capabilities have been put to use streamlining decision-making processes. While AI is often thought of as a product in its own right, it is increasingly intersecting with other parallel trends. Chief among these is the Internet of things (IoT), which enables previously isolated machines to “talk” to one another and, at the same time, generate data that makes new modes of operation a possibility.