Executive Summary: When people say, "AI will change everything in healthcare, vehicles, robotics, and manufacturing," they are not talking about ChatGPT. They refer to the power of AI models designed and tuned to achieve niche business needs and do them exceptionally well. You can put thousands of domain-specific models to work for your business today. In this article, I will give you a 10,000-foot view of the landscape.
Think about business problems you are trying to solve and ask yourself these questions:
- ⏳ Do manual transcription and communication processes take up valuable time and resources?
- 💸 Are fluctuations in demand or inefficiencies in your supply chain costing your business money?
- ⚖️ Are you facing difficulties detecting fraud, managing risks, or staying compliant with regulations?
- 🛠️ Do you feel too much human intervention is required to detect flaws in equipment?
- 📊 Do you struggle with predicting weather, inventory levels, market trends, or customer behavior?
- 🤖 Do you have any complex challenges or repetitive tasks that could benefit from automation, data analysis, or AI-driven solutions?
If you answered yes to any of these problems, then AI models designed for your industry could be the solution you're looking for.
I need some context. Give me some examples of AI models on the market today.
There is probably more than one AI model for any use case you come up with.
I will share a few models for this article covering broader topics. If you are looking for specific or niche models, book a 15-minute meeting with me to get you started in your research.
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The AI and Machine Learning space is full of quirky names and oddball acronyms, so remember, I am just the messenger.
Computer vision
Object detection | defect analysis | first-pass medical imaging analysis
If you have a modern smartphone, then you are already aware that it can detect faces, fix redeye, improve color tones, and even recognize who people are. It should be no surprise that these phones use advanced AI tools to handle that processing.
If you are unfamiliar with this technology, you might be surprised at how quickly an AI model can detect nearly anything on an image or in the frame of a fast-moving video. To see for yourself, watch the following video and watch as the model tracks people, backpacks, suitcases, umbrellas, and trucks in real-time with a moving camera.
Popular AI models or tools to use or build your own custom computer vision models include:
- YOLO is one of the most popular models
- OpenCV is an open-source computer vision library for AI data scientists and software developers. It allows them to create custom computer vision solutions.
Speech-to-text
Translation | transcriptions | closed captions | voice assistants
Of all the open-source AI models, speech-to-text is easily the most accessible. OpenAI's Whisper model has a tender spot in my heart because it was easy to set up on my machine and use when building transcripts for my Agile in Action podcast. However, Whisper is more of a self-contained tool anyone can use.
While I do not have direct experience with custom speech-to-text models, I recommend you check out Vosk as a starting point. Vosk purports to support real-time speech-to-text, which could be valuable in any number of scenarios, from creating subtitles to analyzing sentiment in customer support calls.
Finding other open-source AI models
There are thousands of open-source AI models out there that can help you with all sorts of custom needs. Here are some others:
- Threat, fraud, or anomaly detection: PyOD, H2O, LightGBM
- Weather forecasting: GraphCast, WRF
- Supply chain or optimization models: PYOMO
- Maintenance, vehicle routing, and job scheduling: Optaplanner
But Bill, aren't there products I can purchase that do these things for me?
Sometimes, your requirements are so unique you have to build something new.
You are correct that plenty of products on the market have already solved some of these problems. The benefits you receive from these products can often result in immediate savings. Even better, one would assume those companies have an R&D, so they continue adding more value over time. However, what if your industry has niche and unique needs?
For example, as a small business owner, I use some open models to save money because I have the technical expertise to use them. However, I purchase apps for other needs. Whether you are a startup, mid-size business, or large enterprise conglomerate, you will find the following considerations a good starting point in your decision-making process:
- The solution requires integration with proprietary systems or data not supported by commercial products.
- You aim to maintain a competitive advantage with a custom solution that differentiates you from competitors.
- Data privacy or regulatory constraints make it necessary to handle sensitive data in-house.
- You require complete control over the model's behavior, customization, and data processing.
Are there other sources? How do I deliver the solution to my internal or external customers?
Cloud services like Amazon's AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud offer similar services and often provide open-source AI solutions.
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If you work in a small business and want to save money, you can use many of these open-source models after downloading them. Then, write up some instructions and share them with your colleagues. However, working at a larger organization may require IT support, outside expertise, and other resources.
The good news is that cloud services make these open-source models available to you as a service. They even offer similar or competitive services that you can use that are relatively inexpensive.
For example, Amazon's AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud offer speech-to-text, text-to-speech, video analysis, fraud detection, and many other solutions to meet your needs. If they do not offer a service that meets your needs, they all provide solutions to host your custom applications.
When you host those solutions, you can make them available to your employees. If you are creating a for-profit product, hosting the solution on a cloud provider is an ideal way to provide your product to your customers.
Dr. Deborah Chen provided editing services for this article.
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