From drone delivery to robotic servers to Amazon Go and more
Last week, two of the moonshot projects from Google X — Project Loon, which provides internet connectivity to remote areas via stratospheric air balloons; and Project Wing, which focuses on autonomous drone delivery — graduated from being experimental projects and become independent companies under Google’s parent company, Alphabet. While both projects hold vast potential, the coming-of-age of Project Wing, especially, marks a milestone for the development of autonomous drones (aka. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, or UAV) in the U.S.
Drones, along with the quickening development of autonomous vehicles and robotics, form the three consumer-facing points of AI-powered automation. Sooner than we expect, as such trends continue, specific use cases of machine learning will be able to replace human delivery workers, drivers, and other manual-labor jobs. Amazon alone, for example, reportedly has an estimated total of 100,000 robots working at its numerous warehouses worldwide.
Beyond manual jobs, the advances in computer vision and pattern recognition also mean that AI automation may soon replace human for white-collar jobslike insurance underwriters and financial analysts. Altogether, 800 million workers globally could be affected by automation and the rise of artificial intelligence by 2030, McKinsey Global estimates.
Instead of the early sci-fi fantasy of a general purpose AI that will be able to handle every aspect of our daily needs, the promise of AI is much more likely to manifest in a variety of narrow-focus machine learning tools that will automate a well-defined, simple task. Back in the day, people dreamed about a robot housekeeper to handle all the domestic chores for us, but instead we got inventions like washing machines and dishwashers to lighten our loads by automating certain parts of those manual tasks. We expected humanoids, but what we get instead were nothing like humans.
Similarly, the current wave of AI-powered automation is leading to many ways of automation that do not result in human-like robots. As far as consumer-facing applications are concerned., the trend is primarily manifesting via the aforementioned three areas, (Industrial automation is a whole other story that deserves its own article — here is a good one from the New Yorker.) And sometimes, that force of automation can even be completely invisible, as in the case of Amazon Go stores, yet working its AI magic to make our lives easier.
Much has been written about the economic and sociological impact of this shift towards AI-powered automation, and no doubt more will be published as the debate over the applications and ethical questions of AI automation rages on. In this piece, we will mainly focus on the business and marketing implications as we aim to lay out the three main consumer-facing areas of automation and their brand implications.
Drones To Transform Delivery & Logistics
Autonomous Vehicles To Drive Mobility Services
Service Robots To Automate Everyday Tasks
The Invisible Automation
Overall, developments in artificial intelligence are leading to a sweeping force of automation that is set to transform all aspects of our lives, from how we get around, to how chores get done, to even how we shop. It is important to remember that, at the end of the day, AI-powered automation is created to make our lives easier, not to replace us and what we do. It is meant to be a tool that we can use, just like a bike or an iPhone, to help get things done faster and easier, not to do everything for us. And it works best when it’s invisible or imperceptible, allowing us to focus on what we do without even realizing the AI automation happening in the backend.
The same principle applies to how brands and marketers should approach automation tools — they are here to take care of certain tasks on your behalf and supercharge your customer experience, but you have to remember to bring the human touch in order to make a meaningful connection and deliver a differentiated brand experience.