University at Buffalo School of Management

Nallan Suresh UB Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Operations Management and Strategy Department " Artifi cial intelligence is revolutionizing the retail end of supply chains because it allows businesses to respond in real time to maximize revenue based on unfolding demand." questions, verify qualifi cations and answer questions from applicants about company culture and benefi ts. According to Muriel Anderson, clinical associ- ate professor of organization and human resources, 85 percent of applicants never hear back from a re- cruiter after they apply for a job. Bots like Mya keep candidates updated throughout the hir- ing process, and early trials found that ap- plicants who engaged with the bot were three times more like- ly to hear back from a recruiter or hiring manager. "Mya can pin- point skills candidates may be missing and give them a chance to make a case for why they should be con- sidered for the job — that's something that isn't pos- sible when you just submit an application online," says Anderson. "We're now able to have conversa- tions with candidates before we even make the deci- sion about an interview." Real-time marketing In an increasingly digital world, connected de- vices are becoming ubiquitous. With the wide avail- ability of broadband internet access, the "internet of things" is connecting more devices than ever, includ- ing washing machines, thermostats, coffee makers, lamps, watches, navigation systems and almost every- thing else you can think of. Analyst fi rm Gartner predicts that there will be more than 26 billion connected devices by 2020, all of which produce data that companies use to learn more about customers and tailor their marketing to individual behaviors and interests. "Artifi cial intelligence gives marketers the ability to anticipate specifi c customer needs and subsequently inform, target and perform a variety of consumer tasks in real time, while individuals are on the go," says Charles Lindsey, associate professor of marketing. In the future, this intersection of big data and AI may give customers the ability to make purchases automatically as they pass by a store, effortlessly order ahead or remotely monitor the line at a restaurant, or receive highly customized, geographically specifi c brand and product offers while on the move. Isaac Asimov publishes I, Robot, a collection of short stories with a vision of robots and artifi cial intelligence that inspires a generation of scientists. Alan Turing develops the Turing Test, in which an evaluator tries to determine which of two partners in a conversation is a computer and which is human. Sci-fi becomes reality – artifi cial intelligence milestones 1950 1956 Computer scientist John McCarthy coins the term "artifi cial intelligence" for a summer conference at Dartmouth College. 1966 Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" debuts in theaters. The fi lm features HAL 9000, an intelligent computer that controls the systems of the Discovery One spacecraft and interacts with the ship's crew. 1968 Stanford Research Institute creates Shakey, the fi rst robot that can perceive and reason about its surroundings. 12 Buffalo Business Spring 2017

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