Artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed our personal and professional lives through recent technological advances.
AI is evolving at lightning speed and reshaping several industries. Businesses are increasingly adopting AI tools for many reasons, including better organization or task automation, analyzing more significant amounts of data, simplifying processes, or creating personalized models.
AI raises many questions, as does any innovation that has quickly entered our daily lives. However, experts believe businesses strategically integrating AI will soon gain a competitive edge.
A glossary to help you navigate
How would one define AI? Artificial intelligence is a machine or program that uses data and analyzes the links and patterns between this information to reproduce human functions artificially.
Here are some definitions to help you better understand the technological jargon used in this text.
- Conversational agent (chatbot): A tool that simulates written or spoken communication with a human.
- AI agent (agentic AI): A program emulating human decision-making and performing tasks autonomously by analyzing the human environment, with goals preset by humans.
- Generative AI: An application that creates content (text, images, video, music, etc.) using algorithms and big data. Generative AI differs from traditional AI because it produces new content from existing data rather than focuses on data analysis and classification.
- Multimodal AI: Systems that collect and analyze various types of data (text, voice, image, etc.), generating more accurate and detailed results than unimodal systems.
- Internet of Things (IoT): A set of devices connected to the Internet (home automation objects, in particular) that can interact with people or with other devices in real-time to collect, analyze, and exchange data, with or without human intervention, via the Cloud (computer servers).
- Big Data: Large quantities of data from diverse sources requiring advanced technology to manage vast volumes of information.
- Natural Language Processing (NLP): A field of AI dedicated to analyzing and understanding human language, whether written or spoken.
The progress of ChatGPT
One of the best-known AI tools, ChatGPT, is a chatbot and virtual assistant launched by OpenAI in November 2022. It is primarily credited with the surge in AI adoption, as it sparked the development of several competing systems.
OpenAI revealed that ChatGPT reached 1 million users just five days after its launch. In just two months, monthly active users climbed to 100 million, making it the fastest-growing consumer application in history.[1]
Several updates have been made over the past two years, and the ChatGPT-4 version has improved performance and accessibility.
The software's multimodal capabilities have been enhanced, and it can now integrate information from various data types. This helps it better understand the context and generate more relevant, coherent, and complex responses.
The latest version of ChatGPT is also more creative and has improved its understanding of several non-English languages. It now integrates with more tools and has better filters to reduce the likelihood of inappropriate, biased, or harmful responses.
The evolution of AI tools
AI tools go beyond chatbots or writing aids.
Thanks to recent advancements, numerous tools have been developed for tasks such as translation, learning, grammar assistance, audio or video transcription, project or social media management, image creation or editing, graphic design, task planning, and more. These tools enhance productivity both at work and in daily life or school.
More sophisticated machine learning algorithms analyze data better, improving the accuracy of AI tools. Natural language processing has also significantly advanced, making human-computer interactions smoother.
Aligned with natural language processing, generative AI improves the efficiency and personalization of digital interactions. Generative AI can now create realistic images, music, and complete content.
AI agents have evolved from simple reactive agents to proactive entities capable of autonomously making decisions and managing complex tasks.
However, businesses and decision-makers increasingly focus on issues like ethics, transparency, and security as AI capabilities expand. A growing wave of laws and strategies is aimed at countering risks related to misinformation, discriminatory biases, cyber threats, and data theft.
That said, as AI capabilities multiply, companies and decision-makers gradually focus on ethics, transparency, and security issues. We are seeing an increase in laws and the adoption of policies to counter the risks linked to disinformation, discriminatory bias, cyber threats and data theft.
Some AI trends to watch
Increased adoption in Canada
Red Pill Labs, a Canadian agency based in Vancouver, predicts that despite lagging behind countries like the U.S., the adoption rate of AI by Canadian companies will significantly rise by 2025.[2] This is due in part to the increasing accessibility of AI tools and the Canadian government's announcement in 2024[3] of an official AI strategy.
Privacy protection
Companies and organizations will develop new regulations and update their directives regarding privacy protection and transparency, mainly when AI tools handle personal data.
AI in healthcare
AI is expected to make significant inroads in healthcare.
According to a Statista report (March 2024),[4] AI-driven predictive analyses will improve diagnosis accuracy and improve treatment personalization.
Ambient AI
These devices work quietly in the background in our everyday tools and interfaces. Ambient AI aims to create an intelligent environment capable of anticipating needs, responding to changes, and providing services automatically and almost unnoticed. This form of “ambient” intelligence already exists (e.g., Google Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa) but will improve, and eventually, these devices will no longer require explicit commands or interactions from users.
Some Recent AI Tools to Explore
- Antidote: A French & English grammar-checking software with advanced grammar rules and AI-assisted suggestions for improving text clarity and conciseness.
- Beautiful AI: A web platform that simplifies the creation of visually appealing presentations.
- BrowseAI: A platform that allows users to extract and monitor data from any website.
- BuzzSumo: A content research valuable tool for identifying trends, influencers, media monitoring, content performance analysis, and social engagement.
- Deepl: An online translation tool developed by Linguee. DeepL Write, its counterpart, provides advanced writing assistance powered by AI.
- Fathom AI: A virtual meeting assistant designed to record, transcribe, and summarize meetings in real time.
- Filmora Wondershare: Intuitive video editing software with high-quality output.
- Jasper AI: A content production platform powered by generative AI (creating blog posts, SEO-optimized content, social media posts, etc.).
- Lumen5: A tool that converts text into video, therefore allowing video creation and customization.
- Notion AI: An online productivity and note-taking tool with a professional service launched in February 2023.
- PRophet: A platform designed for PR professionals that predicts journalists' reactions to a press release or pitch by analyzing past trends and data.
- SEOpital: An SEO writing tool launched in 2023 that allows the creation of articles optimized for search engines.
AI is not meant to replace humans entirely (thankfully!) but rather to provide tools that enhance performance.
AI tools are revolutionizing many professional practices, but it is essential to distinguish ethical approaches from deceptive or unprofessional ones. For more on this topic, we invite you to consult our article on the responsible use of AI in your communications.
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