Developing approaches: 8 industries AI could impact next

Artificial intelligence technologies are spreading at a rapid pace into a variety of businesses and job types. What will come of the tech, and which industries will be heaviest impacted, however, remains unclear.

When we look at where AI will be in the next year, five years or decade, who will feel it first? Which industries will embrace it and which will run for the hills when they see it enter?

To find out more about what impact AI will have on a variety of industries, I asked a panel of entrepreneurs from YEC the following question:

What is one industry you think AI will disrupt next and why? What can people in that industry do to prepare?

Here is what they said:

1. Healthcare

Supervised learning is already part and parcel of disease prediction (limited to a select few disease types). The advent of wearables and other human AI interfacing techniques would allow for unsupervised learning to become a major focal point in healthcare in the coming years. More relaxed regulation would also contribute highly in AI adoption, along with breakthroughs in longevity and medicine. – Abeer Raza, TekRevol

2. Legal Industry

I have worked with a lot of startups over the years, and I have seen a recent proliferation of legal advice apps, either in the works or on the market. Legal advice needs to be more accessible for regular people — while complex areas of law will not benefit from AI any time soon, simple legal research is likely to become much more available for the masses. – Ismael Wrixen, FE International

3. Education

There’s no doubt that education is going to change as AI technology develops. We are learning how to use AI to target specific customers in our business, and based on the growth of AI it’s not going to be long before artificial intelligence will have the ability to teach students online and adjust to the student’s learning type and age. – Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner

4. Transportation

Transportation is the one industry predicted to be disrupted most immediately by AI. If you are in the transportation industry — whether a taxi driver, or use Uber or Lyft for side hustle — consider a switch to tourism. Become a tour guide in your town with your knowledge of the neighborhoods and roads you travel. Put your personality and local knowledge to work: AI has not mastered the personality. – Matthew Capala, Alphametic

5. Insurance

AI will soon disrupt the insurance industry. AI-powered tools will be able to monitor you, analyze your behavior and decide whether or not to give discounts on your premiums. One insurance company is already heading that way. They place a monitoring device in cars to track the client’s driving habits. Health insurance can also use similar devices to track heart rate, blood pressure, etc. – Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms

6. Trading

Machines have the uncanny ability to take large sets of data and predict future behavior, so it makes sense that the next area they will disrupt is the trading and investment arena. They can be trained to observe patterns in past data streams and look for indicators for the future. Algorithms could be used to find triggers for financial depressions and elevations. – Blair Thomas, eMerchantBroker

7. Food Service Industry

AI will continue its trend to disrupt the food service industry. Many restaurants are moving away from the antiquated model of waiters/cashiers taking orders and are relying on AI. For instance, drive-thru services are now being updated with AI to replace order takers. Restaurants are following this trend the well, as tablets are placed on tables and counters to take orders, instead of waiters. – Matthew Podolsky, Florida Law Advisers, P.A.

8. Oil and Gas

The oil and gas industry is perfectly positioned to be disrupted by AI. Today, a self-learning AI robot is sweeping the ocean floor looking for oil leakages, which is where the majority of oil underneath North America originates. This robot is discovering oil leaks, which creates new reservoirs and protects our oceans from oil spills. We should expect to see many more AI innovations in this space. – Susan Rebner, Cyleron, Inc.