The theory of disruptive innovation , raised 20 years ago by Harvard Business School ’ s Clayton M . Christensen , is now being crystallised
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2025 will see the market in Artificial Intelligence surpass $ 100bn
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The theory of disruptive innovation , raised 20 years ago by Harvard Business School ’ s Clayton M . Christensen , is now being crystallised
Through technologies such as Artificial Intelligence ( AI ), Machine Learning , Robotics , and Blockchain , the winds of change , which threatened established and successful companies , are being fully felt . For investors , such as the venture capitalists that dominate the tech start-up space , the opportunities to back new winners created by tech are vast .
FANG dominance “ New technology has the potential to disrupt any sector , and every business should be evaluating technology as a disruptive risk and opportunity ,” says KPMG Europe ’ s head of tech , Tudor Aw . “ This is a fundamental shift , happening at an unprecedented rate , and the new reality for all business .”
Technologies such as Internet of Things and ‘ smart everything ’, as well as voice interaction , “ offer huge value propositions ,” says Aw .
These technologies are being pursued by the self-financing FANGs ( tech giants Facebook , Amazon , Netflix , and Google ), whose machine learning power , through harvesting ever larger data sets , is driving them towards becoming the platforms of choice within their sectors . Every new breakthrough seems to confirm their dominance – like Google ’ s AI subsidiary DeepMind , which recently became the world ’ s best player of the game of Go without any input from human experts .
A punter ’ s pint But let ’ s pause for a second … say , over a pint . Not thirsty ? You will be if you talk to Rob McInerney , founder of start-up Intelligent Layer . He ’ s brewing the world ’ s first beer made with the help of AI , called IntelligentX . On the market since last year , it ’ s apparently rather good .
Creation of the beer relies on a continually updating recipe based on inflows of information from punters , which through machine learning finesses the flavour until it ’ s ... the perfect pint . At the heart of McInerney ’ s product is AI that finds insights and solutions with limited data , unlike big tech giants ’ power need to accumulate data on a vast scale .
“ We believe that data science is currently too focused on finding answers in existing datasets , rather than exploring the unknown . We envision systems that enable ‘ learning by doing ’, not just retrospective analysis ,” says McInerney .
IntelligentX beer comes in exclusive , limited-edition , ‘ pirate black ’ bottles
“ The technology we are developing will allow companies to experiment in real time with their customers , products , and services , promoting innovation and helping find previously undiscovered trends and preferences at a highly granular scale ,” he adds .
In essence , that means using AI and machine learning to create and market products and services in a way that is superior to legacy systems . They come wrapped in a business model that can change as fast as the machine at its heart . Small beer , you might think , in the wider scheme of things . Until you realise that all the big drinks companies are looking at this model but can ’ t make it sit with their legacy products . Rebooting their approach would require too much cultural change , at least for the moment .
But investors get the message . There are endless possibilities for refining and improving a company ’ s offer with a limited amount of information available , if the algorithms are powerful enough . It relates to the possible moment in time ,
76 | UKSPA breakthrough | winter 2017