Virtualization and Cloud executives share their predictions for 2017.  Read them in this 9th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.

Contributed by Donal Daly, CEO at Altify

Artificial and Augmented Intelligence Will Lead Us to Stop Thinking of Applications or Devices as "Smart"

In 2017, we will no longer think of applications or devices as "smart."  Instead, we will simply view them as modern. There are examples everywhere today of what people consider "smart" technology -- we call our phones  "smartphones" and our IoT-enabled houses as "smart homes."  This labelling implies that intelligent tech will become the norm and anything that is not "smart" will be seen as inadequate, inefficient or old-fashioned.

A major factor that leads into this trend is AI. In 2017, AI will become as pervasive as electricity. It will be everywhere but we won't be able to see it.

The  coming advances in AI promise tremendous productivity gains in every walk of business and life, but it must still be approached with caution and diligence.  AI won't adopt the forms feared by many - a mass loss of jobs, victory of  robot overlords, etc, but it shouldn't be blindly trusted either.  It won't be able to replace a human intellect, but it will enhance it. AI will help professionals by automating repetitive tasks, providing relevant information in the context of each task undertaken, and bring unprecedented productivity to knowledge workers all over the world.

##

About the Author

Donal Daly is CEO at Altify. He is the author of "TOMORROW TODAY: How AI Impacts How We Work, Live, and Think" and Amazon #1 Best-seller "Account Planning in Salesforce". Donal Daly combines his expertise in enterprise software applications, artificial intelligence, and sales methodology, as he continues to transform how progressive organizations sell. Altify is Donal's 5th global business enterprise.