Five AI Use Cases That You Thought Were Only Science Fiction

For many years now, artificial intelligence has been considered one of the technologies radically changing the world and shaping our future. People are using voice assistants, chatbots, and smart search more and more often. They listen to music, watch movies, and choose products suggested by AI. The areas of smart algorithm implementation are gradually expanding, and the amount of funding for AI-based startups grows twofold every quarter. There emerge AI projects that seemed like science fiction before. Let's take a look at five unexpected everyday AI use cases that you probably haven't heard of yet.

In 2018, an American retail leader patented AI-powered robotic bees. Developers are working on special drones that can fly over crops and pollinate them instead of bees.

With more than 700 North American bee species declining, there will soon be no more insects left to pollinate farmlands. With insufficient pollination, seeds are getting smaller and poorer in quality. As a result, crop capacity is drastically decreasing. If this trend continues, there will be a global catastrophe. A human being can live for 3 minutes without oxygen and for about 3 days without water. According to Albert Einstein, humankind can live without bees for about 4 years.

To solve this problem, Walmart is designing robotic bees equipped with sensors, GPS, cameras, and AI. They will be able to "navigate" in the fields, fly autonomously and return to their base.

This is not the first development of robotic bees. In 2013, researchers at Harvard University introduced RoboBees. At that time, robots could fly and hover in the air but could not function without a power source. Over time, developers have upgraded smart bees, and now they can land anywhere, swim and take off from water.

Another innovative AI-based invention is a platform for monitoring the condition of agricultural land and predicting yields. Information technology can solve existing problems in agriculture. One of them is the overpopulation of the planet. More and more people need to be fed; however, the acreage stays the same. According to the UN, by 2050, the world population will increase by 2 billion and reach 9.7 billion.

An equally serious problem is the shortage of workers who care for plants, maintain machinery, and look after livestock. Finally, global climate change exacerbates the situation. Rising temperatures, shifting ecosystem boundaries, and unstable weather affect yields, crop ripening, and nutritional value. Farmers are looking for ways to adapt to global change and use information technology to solve pressing problems.

The Plantix AI-powered platform for diagnosing crop diseases and calculating yields is such a solution. The app functions as a mobile doctor. A farmer only needs to take a few pictures of their farmland and send them to WhatsApp. The Crop Doctor smart algorithm will analyze the images. It diagnoses about 500 diseases in 30 major crops and offers pest control. It detects nutrient deficiencies and suggests fertilizer options. It advises on how to take care of crops and gives a weekly work plan. The platform works as if by magic, and the number of downloads has long crossed the border of 15 million.

In 2016, Alex Da Kid used IBM Watson to create the Not Easy hit. A smart algorithm analyzed compositions and online content (news, social networks, films) of the last 5 years to understand the emotional tone of the epoch and suggest the theme of the song. Watson BEAT helped come up with the song's sound. The track hit the Billboard and iTunes charts, and its creator was nominated for a Grammy Award.

Since then, many AI-generated songs have appeared: Drowned in the Sun, a Nirvana-style track, Daddy's Car in the style of The Beatles, Holly Herndon’s entire 2019 music album Proto, and other tracks.

There are AI apps to facilitate and speed up the creation of music. For example, LANDR helps improve melodies by designing output filters and combining mechanical components with musical accompaniment. Authentic Artists create virtual artists and music for virtual concerts. AI Duet is a piano bot that accepts melodies played by a person on the keyboard and produces a response, inspiring musicians to create new compositions. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in 31 American patients contracts a nosocomial infection every day. The CDC gives precise figures: annually, 1.7 million patients contract HCAIs (healthcare-associated infections) while being treated for other illnesses, and nearly 100,000 people (1 in 17) die from them. Therefore, clinics are improving the way they keep their premises clean, relying on healthcare business analysis.

AI can help to deal with this problem as well. The AirSani device by Shyld attached to indoor ceilings looks for potentially hazardous areas and disinfects them. It is equipped with smart sensors, a microphone, an IR camera, and a wide-angle camera. AirSani monitors indoor events, finds high-risk areas and sanitizes them. For example, if one of the employees in an office sneezes, the equipment will react and disinfect the area around the person. It will prevent germs from getting on someone else’s mucous membrane. Thus, AI helps to reduce the risk of contracting an HCAI by 20%.

Other startups are using AI to develop more sophisticated software, such as early detection of neurodegenerative diseases. The AIND platform is equipped with a smart algorithm that analyzes the results of medical scans (MRI, CT, X-ray) and documents (EHRs, conclusions on the results of the examination). With amazing accuracy, AI determines early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease or multiple sclerosis and predicts the rate of deterioration of memory and cognitive functions. Thus, people can receive professional treatment even before the disease manifests itself.

The utility sector is the most traumatic industry. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimated that from 2016 to 2020, an average of 25.6 utility workers were killed annually. Injuries occur more frequently (73.6 per 10,000 workers). To prevent death and injury at work, utilities, energy, and telecommunications companies are adopting AI solutions.

The AI-powered Urbint is designed to prevent industrial accidents. An employee enters important data into the system, and a smart algorithm analyzes this information. It assesses the state of the environment (temperature, humidity, soil conditions, altitude, weather) to predict when a pipeline will rupture. It can also predict when a substation will fail, what kind of damage can be, and how employees can eliminate such a breakdown. These hints allow specialists to eliminate the problem before an accident occurs and protect employees from serious injury.

Using an AI assistant, National Grid reduced the number of damages by 22%, and Southern Company Gas cut them by 30%.

AI-based solutions are universal. They can be used in any area, from advertising and creativity to medicine and manufacturing. It is extremely difficult to predict in what way this technology will develop and how it will help humanity develop further. But its capabilities are exciting. Therefore, the more courageously organizations overcome the barriers to AI adoption, the more business benefits they will unlock.