Introduction

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been defined in many ways, often with varying degrees of accuracy. Omdia defines AI as an information system that is inspired by a biological system designed to give computers the human-like abilities of hearing, seeing, reasoning, and learning. A range of technologies enable AI, including machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL), computer vision (CV), natural language processing (NLP), machine reasoning (MR), and strong AI, all of which fall under the AI umbrella.

No longer just a concept or pipe dream, AI is powering applications and use cases across consumer, enterprise, and government markets around the world. The combination of vast amounts of data, faster processing power, and increasingly smarter algorithms are enabling the use of AI to solve real problems, and open up new opportunities for efficiency gains, increased speed, and more profitability.

Based on our research and forecasting, Omdia believes the future opportunity for AI spans a wide range of industries and geographies and is particularly disruptive in highly domain-specific markets with high-volume data needs and ontologies, as well as those with growing applications for machine perception. From autonomous robotics to algorithmic news stories, from product recommendations to processing patient data, and from virtual assistants to voice recognition, AI is likely going to be the driver of the next big technological shift, on par with past shifts like the industrial revolution, the computer age, and the smartphone revolution.

Omdia’s research into AI across 30 industries has identified more than 200 use case categories, each of which is explored in this report. The report defines, contextualizes, and offers real-world examples and revenue forecasts for each use case organized by industry. It serves as a referential compendium to Omdia’s ongoing market forecasting of the AI space, offering an overview and analysis for each use case included in the model.