It feels like we’ve been saying "this has been the year of artificial intelligence" for the last half a decade or so. But, as the decade reaches its conclusion, it’s undoubtedly the case that if you had to characterize the changes — social, commercial, political — the world has undergone over the last 10 years, the big data boom and artificial intelligence would be the key technology trends.
The spotlight is generally on the ripple effects of these technologies; very rarely is it on the people and processes through which these technologies are built and deployed. That’s a shame because if we did we’d have a much greater sense of the opportunities open to us — whether that’s from a personal career perspective or a business one, we’d start to see that we’re still very far from mass adoption and usage. These are trends that remain in the hands of the largest companies with the most money to spend.