2 Deploying Artificial Intelligence Unlocking the strategic potential, avoiding pitfalls, and getting the organization ready By Pragna Kolli and Mack Institute Executive Director Saikat Chaudhuri The Proof and the Promise A rtificial intelligence (AI) is the linchpin of many technological innovations today and embedded everywhere, even if we don’t realize it. Adoption of AI has led to transformations in almost every industry in the past decade, from retail to transportation services, supply chain, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and more. “Alibaba” once evoked the memory of the prudent woodcutter in Arabian Nights tales. Today, instead, the word brings to mind the Chinese multina- tional conglomerate that operates one of the world’s largest e-commerce platforms. From designing chatbots for deciphering consumer emotions to robots for packing and delivering, for facial and voice recognition on pig farms, for seamless payment systems, for monitoring traffic and reducing road con- gestion, and even for prolific content writing, Alibaba has leveraged the power of machine learning (ML) and AI algorithms and put them to incredible uses.1 1 Abigail Beall, “In China, Alibaba’s data-hungry AI is controlling (and watching) cities,” WIRED, May 30, 2018, https://www.wired.co.uk/article/alibaba-city-brain-artificial-intelligence-china-kuala-lumpur. Alibaba even rewired Shanghai’s subways where customers’ faces are identified even as they walk through the barriers without touching a screen or talking to a person, route recommendations are set up, voices and even accents are parsed, and ticket purchases arranged for, all in just a few seconds in a crowded station.