Artificial intelligence technology is advancing very rapidly and is going to fundamentally change how we get our healthcare, with virtual doctors and AI-powered diagnostics on the horizon, Canton said.
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"We came out of the AI winter," he said, referring to a period when AI tech fell out of favor within the industry. Canton attributes today's AI renaissance to advances in how computers can learn — such as reinforced machine learning — and the abundance of data now available for machines to learn from. Innovations like 3D-printed organs will also have a big impact on healthcare by boosting lifespans, he said.
The AI sector is set to grow financially in the coming years too. Market research firm Gartner predicts that the global business value derived from artificial intelligence could hit $3.9 trillion in 2022.
Another area that's likely to boom in the coming years is what Canton calls "blended reality," which is a convergence of augmented reality, virtual reality, and telepresence. This type of technology would make it possible to view digital information in the real world without having to wear glasses or rely on your smartphone, Canton says. "This will be instantaneous," he said. "Those cumbersome things will disappear, and you'll be able to moderate how much [digital information] you want."