AI was born during a small, Dartmouth College workshop, in 1956, where a handful of scientists demonstrated a simple “thinking” program that would eventually prove 38, of the first 52, theorems in Whitehead and Russell’s Principia Mathematica.

Since then, the AI field has experienced ups and downs, until 2009, when silicon valley executives started using Nvidia GPUs (instead of CPUs) to increase the speed of computation by about 100 times and ignited the Big Bang of deep learning and modern AI.

Now multiple organizations are tracking the developments in AI by measuring investments, technical progress, research citations and university enrolments.

A recent PwC research report, an Accenture paper, a McKinsey Global Institute publication and a National Bureau of Economic Research article all confirmed AI as the biggest commercial opportunity in today’s economy.

PwC reported that by 2030 the accelerating development of artificial intelligence will push world the GDP 14% higher or an additional $15.7 trillion (equivalent to total European 2016 GDP).

The greatest gains from AI are likely to be in China (26% boost to GDP in 2030) and North America (potential 14% boost).

The biggest sector gains will be in retail, financial services and healthcare as AI increases productivity, product quality and consumption. According to recent numbers the economic impact of AI will be driven by:

Automating processes (including use of robotics and autonomous vehicles).

Productivity gains from businesses augmenting their existing labour force with AI technologies (assisted and augmented intelligence).

Increased consumer demand resulting from the availability of personalised and/or higher-quality AI-enhanced products and services.

New applications every day

AI seems to be disrupting a new industry every week and is taking an increased role in our day-to-day lives. In fact by early 2019 AI is projected to be in almost all electronic devices we use.