Modern technology makes use of digital storage in ways that no filing cabinet ever could, and that is only the first stage in the evolution of modern technology.
The advent of artificial intelligence has made it possible for humans to receive meaningful analysis from all of that digitally filed data.
The evolution, some would say revolution, of modern technology can be broken down into three stages. One has long gone. We are in the midst of the second. The third stage looms on the horizon.
Stage 1: Digital Migration
As early as the 1980s, industries from healthcare to finance to law realized that paper was on its way out. All of these industries relied heavily on communication between departments. Information on patients, clients, vendors and accounts needed to be shared. Old-school filing systems and paper-chasing weren’t a good recipe for remaining competitive.
At the time, in-house servers and business intelligence mimicked old filing systems. Even though there was a greater ease of access, storage space was still limited. In some cases, paper forms were filled out manually and the data was input to the computer system. Ease of access came at a painstaking cost and an increase in manual labor.
Enter the next stage.
Stage 2: Cloud Computing and Big Data
Consumer-facing technologies began to out-pace business technologies thanks to the internet and mobile devices. Everyone had a computer and could fill out digital forms by themselves. This data was instantly placed in a database. From there, staff could pull information that they needed and even perform rudimentary data analysis of client behaviors and sales patterns.
The next sub-stages happened almost simultaneously. Cloud service providers began to offer limitless storage in secure, off-site facilities. Organizations could now capture as much information as they wanted, hold on to it longer and employ data science techniques on large, and often shared, sample sizes. At the same time, automation tools came into prominence. No longer did anyone have to input data into a spreadsheet. Instead, data collection transformed into an automated process.
It is not wrong to suspect that we currently find ourselves in the last epoch of this evolution. Big data is guiding the development of artificial intelligence. Analysis itself can now be automated. Already, consumers are finding it easier to apply for mortgages, choose stock options, transfer pharmacies or change healthcare providers. Information that was once siloed is shared across secure networks.
Stage 3: Ethics and Analysis
Artificial intelligence saves organizations money. The technology saves consumers time. It isn’t going anywhere and it seems that the tech will be applied to “softer” decision-making such as who is able to receive certain health benefits and who holds a greater risk.
Now that AI is transitioning into a technology that holds the futures and fates of many people in its actuarial tables, organizations are starting to study the ethical applications of artificial intelligence.
In terms of future evolution and development, it appears that a convergence of humanity and tech is on the verge of occurring. Consumer agencies and government entities are starting to look at regulatory guidelines. The European Union has recently adopted data privacy controls. Organizations themselves, even without government intervention, are finding it imperative to institute transparent ethical guidelines to avoid litigation.
Modern technology is evolving. Recent developments, both technologically and socially, are showing that innovations won’t stop. And neither will humanity.