While Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already becoming ubiquitous, it often fails to live up to its hype in enterprises. This is partly due to misconceptions about exactly what AI is, but also due to business executives failing to play a role in applying data and AI to business strategy.

This is according to Mike Bugembe, author, executive advisor and founder of data and AI specialist lens.ai, who will participate in the upcoming ITWeb Business Intelligence Summit in March.

Named as one of the most influential people in a data-driven business in the UK, and author of the bestselling book, ‘Cracking the Data Code’,  Bugembe says a key mistake enterprises make is expecting data scientists to use AI to address business challenges in isolation. 

“If you hand AI over to a technical team, they may enjoy using it, but most of them will not focus on the value it can bring to the business. There has to be a business level understanding of what the technology is, where it can be applied and what role it should play in the business,” he says.

Bugembe notes that successful AI deployments marry human experience with the capabilities of the technology.

“We as humans learn from experience. In machine learning and AI, we are trying to replicate this, using data. But not all the experience humans have has been coded into the database. There will be gaps, and technical teams may not have the experience to code it in.”

This missing experience resides within business executives, whose knowledge has to be married to AI capabilities to bring value to the business, he explains.

Currently, many business executives do not understand AI and do not play a role in its application. This impacts their overall data acquisition strategy and their efforts to use data to differentiate the business.

“It’s no accident that the likes of Google, Facebook and Amazon have been hugely successful,” he says. “They generate billions in revenue, and AI plays a massive role in all of them. But it’s not about big budgets and armies of data scientists – it’s about the ability to make the leap to effectively apply data and AI to differentiate the business.”

Most senior executives are worlds apart from data scientists, he note.

"Executives today need to take the time to undergo non-technical AI training to understand how it works and how it can be applied, so that they can join the AI conversation and make AI a key part of their business,” he says.  

As AI becomes more integral across the business, executives who do not stay closely involved risk finding themselves listening to machines, which could have dangerous biases, he warns.

In Africa, which is often seen to lag behind the rest of the world in terms of technology maturity, Bugembe urges a concerted effort to embrace AI. “It is a dangerous line of thinking to say Africa is not ready for AI,” he says. “Africa is connected, and it has all the raw materials to be able to build these algorithms. And the cost of not doing so is extreme.”

Keynote: Making AI a business reality

Mike Bugembe will be a keynote speaker and will deliver a half-day workshop at the ITWeb BI Summit, to be staged at the Sandton Convention Centre from 3-5 March.

His keynote ‘Making AI a business reality’ will outline how to see through the hype of AI, and help businesses understand how to move AI from an aspiration to a business reality. 

His interactive workshop ‘Finding AI: helping organisations find that game-changing use for AI in their business’ will show business leaders how to find unique AI opportunities to differentiate their businesses.