Best examples of AI in business: Robots at work

Businesses have been incorporating artificial intelligence into their operations for several years now. For the most part, they adopted AI at a steady, but rather slow pace. Then ChatGPT and generative AI burst onto the scene, triggering a stampede.

Less than a year after generative AI tools became publicly available, a third of organizations are using gen AI regularly in at least one business function, a McKinsey & Company global survey found. Forty percent of organizations said they plan to increase their investment in AI overall.

“Amid recent advances, AI has risen from a topic relegated to tech employees to a focus of company leaders,” the firm said.

According to the Deloitte’s State AI in the Enterprise, 5th Edition report, 94% of global business leaders say AI is vital to success over the next five years.

While it’s still early days for generative AI, there are plenty of examples of all types of AI in business. Here are some of the best examples from our archives.

AI in business: Examples across industries

AI in healthcare

Nearly every industry is looking to AI to streamline their processes, increase efficiency, and gain competitive edge. Healthcare is among those leading the charge. This recent post includes early examples of how generative AI is being put to use to transform a data-intensive industry to improve workflows and patient care.

AI in retail

This post proved prescient in describing how AI would alter our shopping experience. Mark de Bruijn explores eight artificial intelligence trends, including personalized promotions, tailored web experiences, smart mirrors, and more.

AI in fashion

The ability to try on clothes and shoes remains brick-and-mortar’s big advantage over online shopping. But fashion brands are trying to change that by using AI and augmented reality. Sharon Goldman explains how in this 2021 post.

AI in travel

This article explores how AI is reshaping the travel experience, including personalized trip recommendations and forecasts of flight and hotel prices. AI promises to personalize every step in the journey.

Transforming sales, service, and e-commerce: Artificial intelligence in business

AI in sales

With AI in sales, the opportunity is huge. This post examines how artificial intelligence and machine learning can boost sales forecasting, deal scoring, and sales training to help companies reach their goals.

Generative AI opens up even more opportunities to improve sales. SAP’s Grant Smith explores how it can relieve sellers of routine work and fine-tune customer engagement to boost sales effectiveness in this post.

AI in customer service

Like sales, customer service is another area where AI can provide a ton of benefits. It can help streamline agent work and speed resolutions. Chatbot technology is a top AI application in service. In this post, David Rand looks at how businesses use chatbots to provide 24×7 customer support and better customer engagement.

AI in e-commerce

E-commerce encompasses many operations that benefit from AI, including managing inventory and product content, providing personalized recommendations, and customer service. This article looks at the ways AI helps B2B companies take e-commerce to the next level.