by Giorgia Andrei |
In his study entitled 'Cloud-based AI in a post-Covid-19 world',Abi Research argues that the demand for cloud-based Artificial Intelligence cloud-based services will lead more and more data centres to equip themselves with AI chipsets capable of handling high workloads - from conversational AI, search systems and recommendation engines, diagnostics and monitoring, to cybersecurity risk identification and assessment - and thus protect the chip market from a possible downturn.
Abi Research also points out that the semiconductor supply chain, on the whole, has not been as severely affected as other sectors by the consequences of the pandemic: manufacturing plants in Singapore and Taiwan have remained operational.
Of course, installation, commissioning and deployment of new AI servers may be slowed down by travel restrictions, but the forecast for cloud-based AI chipsets is for a slight drop in 2020 and a return to normal in 2021, so a fairly rapid rebound.
All companies, according to analysts, will make significant efforts to ensure business continuity through Artificial Intelligence services and many have also decided to continue with remote working post-Covid19. In particular, the adoption of cloud-based AI technologies will, according to Abi Research, accelerate in three areas: warehousing and logistics, voice control devices (conversational AI) and healthcare.
The supply chain goes smart
Warehouses and logistics were probably the areas where the pandemic had the greatest impact. The current situation is prompting the industry to increase investment in automation and warehouse management systems to coordinate and optimise operations. E-commerce giants such as Amazon, JD.com and Alibaba have relied on AI systems to predict where demand for products will come from, plan inventory upstream and redesign delivery routes to meet demand.
Equipping the supply chain with AI systems therefore becomes imperative to stay in the game. The point is to link high-level, AI-based management tools with connected machines along the entire supply and distribution chain. At the device and machine level, increased automation is driving demand for more sophisticated controls from leading suppliers of automated material handling solutions, such as Bastian Solutions, Dematic and Honeywell Intelligrated.
Voice control devices become widespread
An increase in the use of voice control devices, which are already expanding in smart home applications, is to be expected. With the precautionary measures imposed to contain the pandemic, these devices allow users to avoid touching surfaces and thus minimise the risk of coming into contact with dangerous bacteria. For businesses, voice control can be useful for online shopping and information services. online shopping and information services: conversational AI online platforms can be a good way to create customer engagement without having to ask customers to be physically present in the shop. Not only that: they can be used by companies, in general, to manage assistance, answers to questions about availability and price of products, etc.
This trend will benefit both providers of voice control interfaces (Amazon, Alibaba, Baidu, Google, Microsoft, Xiaomi) and manufacturers of chipsets that support cloud-based natural language processing, voice activation and speech recognition in devices.
Chipsets in healthcare and drug manufacturing
Artificial Intelligence is also playing a key role in the health response to the pandemic. All the biggest companies have developed AI tools to help identify the virus (Alibaba, SenseTime and Yitu), diagnose its evolution (Graphen), trace its geographical footprint to understand its spread (Aws and Microsoft) and identify its primary structure to find a vaccine (Intel and Nvidia). Artificial Intelligence will also be adopted in the field of bio-informatics, to analyse the ribonucleic acid (Rna) sequence of Sars-CoV-2 and develop the right antiviral drug. In this process, tools made by companies such as Google DeepMind and Graphen, and AI chipsets from manufacturers such as Nvidia and Intel will be instrumental in speeding up the development of drugs to combat the pandemic.
According to Abi Research, Artificial Intelligence is also instrumental in the development of a medicine that is more patient-centred than disease-centred: advanced analytics tools and machine learning algorithms help to improve image-based diagnosis through increasingly less invasive screening methods for patients. The data will then be processed by dedicated platforms, capable of learning from cyclical elements, laboratory reports, images, radiological scans, up to establishing treatments targeted on the molecular profile of the patient.
