All about Artificial Intelligence

You’ve probably heard plenty about A.I or Artificial Intelligence in recent years, which is because the industry has gone from being an ethereal concept in science fictions movies to potentially one of the biggest industries in this century. Let’s start at the beginning by asking what exactly is AI? The simple version goes something like, AI is a type of computer science which revolves around creating machines that can performs tasks which would usually require human intelligence.

In 1950, mathematician Alan Turing changed history when he posed the question Can machines think? and AI essentially aims to affirmatively answer this question. DataRobot CEO Jeremy Achin describes AI by saying, “AI is a computer system able to perform tasks that ordinarily require human intelligence… Many of these artificial intelligence systems are powered by machine learning, some of them are powered by deep learning and some of them are powered by very boring things like rules,” an answer which, after we’ve seen the major evolutionary journey taken by computers in the past twenty years, really taps into our imaginations.

However now many are wondering what AI can do for business.

AI – the next big thing

AI growth is happening at the speed of light, as the estimated global market size was sitting at $39.9 billion in 2019 and is forecasted to grow by a massive 42.4% between 2020 and 2027, according to Grand View Research. AI has infiltrated many aspects of the way the world works already, and virtual assistants like Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri are prime examples of our current adoption of AI.

Other ways you may recognise AI is in credit card fraud detection, adverts that suggest what you should buy online based on relevant shopping habits and previous purchases, and photo recognition, such as Facebook’s suggestions of who may be in a photo. There are two types of AI: narrow AI and general AI. Narrow AI can be seen often today in computers, where machines have been taught to do tasks without being programmed to do them. A good example of narrow AI is the ability for self-driving cars to recognise objects. General AI is the type of intellect that humans possess and is a flexible type of intelligence that can be used in a wide range of tasks. In a nutshell, General AI involves machines mimicking human intelligence. This type of AI doesn’t exist just yet, but Skynet in the Terminator gave us a good idea as to what it could be like in the future.

Why is AI making such waves in the world? 

Technologies like machine learning and natural language processing belong to the AI realm, and can be used in a variety of ways to help businesses achieve their goals. These technologies can be used in conjunction with each other in the data, analytics and automation spaces, while businesses can use it to improve customer service, enhance their supply chains, or for myriad other functions.

In the pharmaceutical industry, AI is about to change the game by speeding up drug discoveries and improving industry success rates, according to GlobalData. AI uses automated algorithms to sort through data and identify patterns within seconds, processes which would take humans months.

According to a study in the Lancet, AI software has even been able to recognise breast cancers that mammograms and doctors had missed. AI can be used in a vast array of industries and has so much potential that it’s no wonder it’s being dubbed as potentially the biggest industry of the 21st Century by such publications as US News and World Report.

Big players in the AI world

Some of the biggest AI companies in the financial markets include Nvidia Corp, Alphabet (Google) and Salesforce.com. These names might sound familiar to you, but let’s take a look at how AI plays a big part in each company. Nvidia Corp is a popular chipmaker, supplying many tech companies with Nvidia hardware in the form of semi-conductors for use in anything from performance gaming to self-driving vehicles. Nvidia hardware will also have the distinction of being used to power the world’s fastest AI supercomputer called “Leonardo.” Alphabet, Google’s parent company, is another huge AI company in the markets that uses AI daily.

A host of internal AI tools have been developed for the search engine to be able to feature digital ad pricing, voice search and provide accurate and relevant search results. Salesforce has been one of the most popular large-cap stocks in the last few years, even factoring into the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Salesforce uses AI to add value to their customers by finding hidden trends amongst data, predicting successful marketing copy, prioritizing hot sales leads and much more.

Stock trading with iFOREX as CFDs

With such market leaders as Nvidia hardware and Alphabet leading the way for AI into the future, it could be an interesting time for both technology and share prices alike. As these companies continue to pioneer innovation, it could create the type of market volatility that may present both opportunities and risks for those traders who invest in CFDs or Contracts for Difference. CFDs allow you to take advantage of price movements in both directions—increases as well as decreases—of a wide selection of shares in popular companies like Nvidia hardware and Alphabet, without having to purchase the underlying asset (in this case any actual shares).

At iFOREX, you can choose from over 750 CFD instruments including shares from Nvidia hardware, Alphabet, and many others, as well as commodities, leading global indices, a wide variety of ETFs, top foreign currency pairs, and cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin. Before stock trading with iFOREX as CFDs, take advantage of iFOREX’s educational program, including how-to PDF guides, video tutorials, and 1-on-1 training with a live trading coach who can explain the basics of CFD stock trading with iFOREX at your own pace.

The iFOREX trading platform provides traders with a sleek, innovative interface that comes with today’s most advanced tools and features including market alerts, trading signals, analysis charts, financial articles, and lots more. Be sure to check the social forum for regular updates from iFOREX, giving those who engage in stock trading with iFOREX as CFDs a regular stream of exceptional content, from market updates to fun facts. There’s a lot you can learn about a broker when you check the social forum, so head to Twitter and Facebook and follow iFOREX today.

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