Data Analytics and AI

Recently I had conversations with many friends from various fields. Also I was applying for many positions when I realised that these two terms are still not clear for many in the industry.

The revolution of AI has hit us so hard so fast that most of the world hasn't had time to catch up. I remember I was unaware of this until a friend mentioned a documentary from Netflix. I guess most of the people started being aware after that. Then I went on to pursue higher education in AI and that helped me understand what is really going on in the world.

This article I am writing to help those who are not related to this field and want to understand what does this mean. Data Science is definitely going through a booming phase but what we all need to know is that it is not new. We are using this, all the industries have been using this since ages. AI is also not new. AI has also been used since long. What is new is "Deep Learning", which has enabled us to get things done by the use of Artificial Intelligence like never before.

Data Science has always existed.As simple as this. The mankind has always observed environment around, gathered their experiences and then tried to make sense of it. All discoveries have been done through this method. This is Data Science. The famous debate of "if Earth is round or flat" went through different phases of gathering more and more data and making sense of it. The interpretation heavily relied on individual biases of interpreting it. We know this.

So data analytics is not a new field. What's new is earlier only Human Brain was capable of pulling this off. Human Brain was capable of gathering large data, processing it and then making inference out of it faster. Now Human Brain can be used to analyse it's patterns and then that can be replicated in machine so that a machine can do the same things.

Difference between Data Analytics and AI is Data Analytics need Human Intervention at the end to make sense of all the Data we have gathered. Machine Learning assists that human to analyse it faster and better. While when we say it's AI product that will do it without need of Human Intervention. Difference is "Decision Making". And AI is niche technology.

AI doesn't have to be included in all we do. It needs to be used for specific tasks which Humans are wasting time on or are repetitive with less risks involved. Because till date the technology of AI is not advanced to a level to match decision making capability of a Human. So not all business need to worry about AI. And not all Data Analytics departments have to hire someone who is well trained on AI unless your business has that much data to deal with.

What we need to understand is expense put in AI development is a R and D investment. Data mining is also the same. you cannot expect same deadlines from those projects It's the process of discovery and not certainty.

Data Analytics on the other hand can have certain deadlines, machine learning can have benchmarks set and then can have a finishline defined. And Data Analytics has to be used by all businesses as its more advanced and it helps businesses understand their customers, current market trends, future market trends faster and can be used as an advantage over competition too.

I hope I was able to put it in simpler words and make sense of the situation better.