Thursday, December 13th, 2018
The United Nations Headquarters
New York City
Humans have for a long time envisioned a future powered by intelligent machines – autonomous vehicles, virtual personal assistants, smart factories, thinking robots – technologies that will make our lives easier, safer, and more efficient. Recent developments across the world are turning this fantasy into reality.
AI is already transforming a diverse range of industries including finance, healthcare, retail, transportation, and media, and AI-driven business is expected to generate $60 billion in revenue by 2025.
According to recent analysis performed by Gartner, AI-derived business value is forecast to reach $3.9 trillion by 2022. Further, according to McKinsey, AI’s potential annual value could be as high as $5.8 trillion by 2025, and will have generated $13 trillion in economic activity across the world by 2030.
In this, our sixth meeting of the AI Pioneers Forum, we will discuss how these projections might come into reality via AI breakthroughs in key technologies such as deep learning, cloud, augmented reality, quantum computing, drones and more.
Additionally, we will explore how IT budgets will be allocated in the coming year. According to Gartner’s annual CIO Agenda Survey budgets are on track to increase by around 3%, and CIOs note that digital initiatives are at the top of their investment priority list. This projected rise is in line with what we have seen in recent years, and matches almost exactly the growth in IT investments in 2018.
While IT investment is predicted to grow, some broader economic indicators point to a 2019 global economy that is set to contract. With heightened tensions between the U.S. and China straining trade relationships, a recent Reuters survey of more than 500 economists showed downgraded growth projections for 18 out of 44 countries polled, with 23 remaining flat and only 3 with marginal upgrades. We will also discuss this issue as it relates to how companies and countries might use AI solutions to mitigate some aspects of this projected downturn.
We also invite you, our honored members, to a holiday reception immediately following the roundtable meeting. This reception is our way of thanking you for your valuable contributions to our community throughout 2018, and we will be sharing our roadmap for 2019.
