Leaders in AI 2021

2020 was an incredibly challenging year for citizens, companies, and governments around the world. Artificial Intelligence played an incredibly important role in saving lives and increasing economic resilience during these challenging times. Let’s take a look at 5 artificial intelligence developments that define 2021 and the future for AI technology:

Vaccine development. Previously, the process of developing vaccines took years, if not decades. But by March 2020, vaccines against the new coronavirus were already being tested in humans — just 3 months after the first reported cases. The record speed of vaccine development was largely due to the use of artificial intelligence models, which helped researchers analyze huge amounts of data.

Fully automated driving and the introduction of robot taxis. Leading companies now continue to test unmanned cars and open up robot taxi services to the public in various cities. For example, Baidu has launched such a service in 3 Chinese cities, which is a huge step forward. Artificial intelligence can safely operate a vehicle in difficult road conditions, solving most possible problems regardless of the presence of a human driver. The company has also developed remote driving technology, a safety measure that allows a remote operator to take control of the vehicle in the event of an emergency.

Natural language processing applications. Natural language systems are becoming increasingly advanced in processing aspects such as emotions, intentions, and intonation. This allows AI to generate language that matches human patterns. Because of this, better chatbots and virtual assistants are being developed to help improve user interaction.

Quantum computing. Quantum computing has made huge strides in the past years, with the Jiuzhang computer, in particular, achieving quantum superiority. And this is incredibly important because quantum computing can greatly expand AI applications over classical binary-based computers. In particular, quantum computing can be used to run a generative machine learning model using a larger data set than a classical computer can handle, making the model more accurate and useful in reality.

AI chips. In 2021, several artificial intelligence chips adapted to special tasks were released. While a conventional processor is capable of supporting artificial intelligence tasks, AI-specific processors are modified by certain systems, allowing them to optimize performance for deep learning. Such technologies are very valuable for companies running a wide network of data centers for commercial cloud services, they help facilitate internal company operations.

Artificial intelligence is taking innovation to the next level in 2021.