Artificial Intelligence (AI) is top of mind for leading corporations these days – 96.4% of top executives reported earlier this year that AI was the number one disruptive technology that they were investing in, up from 68.9% just two years ago. In addition, 80% of these executives identified AI as the most impactful disruptive technology, up from 46.6% two years earlier.

Yet, for many organizations, Artificial Intelligence remains a mystery. For specialists, AI implies a very specific connotation in terms of intelligence demonstrated by machines, in contrast to the more common usage of AI which encompasses all varieties of machine assisted learning, most notably machine learning, deep learning, and natural language. For the sake of this discussion, we will assume the broadest definition of AI. As corporations struggle to understand the applications and benefits that AI can deliver for their organizations, firms have established AI Centers of Excellence, AI Labs, and other sandboxes for piloting AI capabilities tied to business use cases.

So, how can we demystify AI to deliver measurable business value? Rob Thomas, a senior IBM executive who is General Manager of IBM Data and AI, which includes Watson, has a few ideas. He has outlined his framework for AI adoption in a newly published report from O’Reilly Media, “The AI Ladder”. In the report foreword, O’Reilly Media Founder and CEO Tim O’Reilly observes, “Everyone is talking about ‘AI’ these days, but most companies have no real idea of how to put it to use in their own business”. O’Reilly emphasizes the cultural change in mindset that accompanies adoption of any new technology approach, noting that “each new technology revolution breeds new business leaders” who let go of old assumptions about the way things work. O’Reilly notes, “only later do companies realize how much they might need to change their business model to truly make use of new capabilities”. IBM’s Thomas observes, “AI is not about executing a single business project – it’s about changing an entire business culture. It’s about creating a culture of iteration, experimentation”. Read On: