Artificial intelligence (AI) holds much promise for the future. The U.S. government is therefore paying ample attention to this technology, calling for long-term investments to be made in researching uses for AI. It has recently released a report titled “Preparing for the Future of Artificial Intelligence,” which notes that AI has the potential to transform our world, and can benefit many fields including healthcare, transportation, and finance by helping to solve some of their greatest challenges and inefficiencies in areas such as energy conservation and mobile security.

AI is already illustrating its potential applications through technology such as smart vehicles and buildings. Smart vehicles that drive themselves have huge advantages in comfort and security for the elderly and disabled, and smart buildings use automation to reduce energy consumption and enable the whole building to work more efficiently. Additionally, AI can help governments work more effectively and better protect those at risk.

Improvements to Mobile Security

As the world becomes more mobile, it’s clear that AI has a potential role to play in improving mobile security and cybersecurity in general, both in defensive and offensive security measures. This can be achieved through the use of machine learning to better interpret data so that organizations can detect security threats and vulnerabilities more effectively. The benefits of using AI to improve security have already been seen with DARPA’s Cyber Grand Challenge competition, which was designed to help develop systems for detecting, evaluating and patching software vulnerabilities before they can be exploited. The resulting code from that competition has been made available for others to adapt for their own purposes and to learn from. In the future, it’s predicted that further AI research will result in solutions for increasing resilience to cyberattacks.

Long-Term Government Investments in AI

Because of the potential benefits of AI, the U.S. government has announced that it will make long-term investments in AI research to see how those benefits can be realized. It will also look at how AI could be used by federal agencies, such as in DARPA’s Education Dominance program, in which AI is used to reduce the time it takes Navy recruits to attain expert skills via digital tutoring programs.

Just as mobile security and computing have increased productivity, flexibility and choice, AI has the potential to usher in a new era of security and efficiency. As the U.S. government make further efforts to promote research into the possibilities enabled by AI, the technology is set to provide a wide range of benefits across many industries, from government to education to manufacturing.

For a deeper dive into the world of AI, learn how industries are using applications like machine learning algorithms and predictive analytics to bolster productivity.

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Fran Howarth

Fran Howarth is an industry analyst specializing in security. She has worked within the security technology sector for over 25 years as an analyst, consultant and writer. Fran focuses on the business needs for security technologies, with a focus on emerging technology sectors. Current areas of focus include mobile security, cloud security, information governance and data security, identity and access management, network and endpoint security, security intelligence and analytics, and security governance and regulations. Follow Fran on Twitter: @FranNL

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