One stat shows how artificial intelligence is exploding into the world
Chip Somodevilla / Getty
Google made headlines with it huge victory in the ancient game of Go a few weeks ago. And AI is entering into the marketplace at a historic rate, changing industries as complex as Wall Street in the process.
If you get the feeling that we're at the start of a tidal wave, you might be right - take it from Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang. In an interview with Fortune, Huang explained that AI has gone from "from research concept to engineering application."
Nvidia - the graphics card manufacturer beloved by computer gamers - has become a major player in AI because its processors are uniquely suited to handling the demands of deep learning algorithms.
Deep learning is remarkably powerful because its's a method of recognizing objects (your friend's face in an Instagram photo or another car on the road) and - quite recently - being able to act based on what the algorithm recognizes.
It's "exploding," Huang says. "Two years ago we were talking to 100 companies interested in using deep learning," he continued, noting that the industries range across advertising, energy, cars, finance, and medicine.
These fields would be interested in deep learning because the technique doesn't require engineers to program what works or what doesn't into an algorithm - it instead allows computers to learn on their own. The most famous example is AlphaGo, Google program that just toppled a human champion. AlphaGo's algorithms studied a database of online Go matches to secure its win, giving it the equivalent experience of doing nothing but playing Go for 80 years straight.
"This year we're supporting 3,500 [companies]," he says. "In two years' time there has been 35X growth."
Looks like Go is just the beginning.
NOW WATCH: Google just opened an internet store in Cuba
- A couple accidentally shipped their cat in an Amazon return package. It arrived safely 6 days later, hundreds of miles away.
- A centenarian who starts her day with gentle exercise and loves walks shares 5 longevity tips, including staying single
- 2 states where home prices are falling because there are too many houses and not enough buyers
- "To sit and talk in the box...!" Kohli's message to critics as RCB wrecks GT in IPL Match 45
- 7 Nutritious and flavourful tiffin ideas to pack for school
- India's e-commerce market set to skyrocket as the country's digital economy surges to USD 1 Trillion by 2030
- Top 5 places to visit near Rishikesh
- Indian economy remains in bright spot: Ministry of Finance