Edge AI innovation can assist users in business and around the home
Several AI use cases are best suited to the Edge, where processing occurs at or close to the data source, reducing latency, lowering costs, increasing data privacy, and improving reliability.
Thanks to the inherent benefits seen at the Edge, many companies are investing in Edge solutions, spurring innovation and new Edge AI use cases.
These use cases highlight how Edge AI positively impacts the world and showcase some of the most significant innovations, and ingenuity Edge AI can offer users at home and work.
What is Edge AI, and what are its benefits?
Edge AI brings artificial intelligence and computing power closer to the user.
With Edge AI, AI work is done at the edge of the network (where the data is initially generated) rather than in a centralized cloud computing facility or a private data center.
Technological advances in Edge AI have helped spur smart applications, machines, and devices. These Edge AI-enabled technologies and platforms can perform routine or repetitive tasks under different circumstances, using intelligence similar to human cognition.
Edge AI also continues to expand the abilities and opportunities in machine learning.
For these reasons, 94% of the world’s organizations and businesses plan to adopt and implement Edge AI in the next five years.
Here are the main benefits of Edge AI that encourage companies to shift their AI workloads from the cloud to the Edge.
Edge AI enhances machine learning
Edge AI involves AI applications developed using neural networks, which allow the AI to be trained and adapt to changes.
Edge AI models allow the retention of new information and data and can use it for training purposes.
This contrasts traditional programming, where the software is limited to the developer’s input. It differs from cloud-based AI, as training can be completed at the Edge.
Edge AI is incredibly reliable
Processing data at the Edge allows AI to continue to operate even if there’s an unreliable network connection or the network goes down.
This greatly benefits numerous industries that create automated cars and machines, including the motor and robotics sectors.
This feature also enables AI to run in remote locations and harsh environments, such as in agricultural settings and even outer space!
Edge AI offers excellent security and privacy
The anonymity of data is something developers must comply with without compromising the functionality of the AI.
With Edge AI, data can be processed anonymously and comply with strict security regulations. For example, Edge AI can analyze information – images, voices, personal data, and so on – without ever having to leave the device or be stored in a centralized cloud data center.
This makes it easy to comply with regulations regarding how far data is allowed to travel.
Edge AI further enhances privacy by storing data locally and only sending what’s necessary to the cloud. All the while, any data uploaded for training purposes can be anonymized to protect users’ identities.
Edge AI is cost-effective
Because Edge AI processes data closer to the network’s edge, it requires less internet bandwidth, dramatically reducing networking costs.
Edge AI offers improved latency
As mentioned, Edge AI analyzes data locally on the user’s device rather than in a centralized cloud data center.
This lessens the delay caused by network communications when sending data to the cloud.
As a result, Edge AI generates real-time responses to users’ needs.
The top 5 Edge AI use cases
Now that we’ve discussed the benefits of Edge AI let’s explore how 5 different industries use Edge AI technology to their advantage.
1. Edge AI benefits the security and surveillance sectors
From use cases around the home to nationwide government use, Edge AI is utilized for increased security and surveillance.
Now that AI models can analyze and process data locally, real-time insights and alerts can be given to operators (from Smart Video Doorbell owners to trained security personnel) as suspicious activity or objects are detected.
2. Edge AI boosts the industrial IoT
Edge AI enables the automation of manufacturing and operational processes, resulting in better control and execution of implementation and maintenance protocols.
IoT devices and sensors that use Edge AI can monitor and boost the performance of industrial machines and can detect problems for real-time troubleshooting.
This rapid data collection and analysis increases work safety, reduces operational downtime, and saves costs.
3. Edge AI makes autonomous vehicles possible
Edge AI can be deployed in autonomous vehicles where real-time analysis is critical.
Without real-time data processing, autonomous vehicles would not be possible. For example, if autonomous vehicles had to rely on the cloud for data processing, latency would be a big issue, and collisions would increase.
Milliseconds matter when operating a vehicle, making Edge AI an essential technology in driverless vehicle use cases.
4. Edge AI assists the healthcare sector
Health providers such as hospitals and private clinics are starting to adopt Edge-based systems to serve patients better.
Edge AI-enabled tools and applications are capable of clinical decision support (CDS), which provides clinicians with timely, filtered, patient-specific information.
These tools and devices also include health-monitoring wearables and artificial intelligence-powered imaging systems.
In addition to alerting medical staff when required, Edge AI-enabled medical devices can send signals to other devices to perform specific tasks.
For example, Edge AI can facilitate the automated dispensing of inhibitory drugs when certain chemicals in the body rise, providing immediate, appropriate medical responses to patients.
5. Edge AI makes the smart home smarter
Edge AI has also brought technology closer to peoples’ homes.
Many houses now incorporate smart systems such as Smart Video Doorbells that collect and process data from the front door for surveillance or monitoring.
When Smart Video Doorbells and HomeCams utilize Edge AI, processing and analysis can take place on-device, bringing cost, privacy, and latency advantages to everyday users.
The future of Edge AI and its many use cases
Thanks to its benefits, Edge AI is generating many new opportunities right now and in the future.
That’s why big companies and organizations are racing to adopt and implement it.
From smart homes to self-driving cars, Edge AI is undeniably at the frontier of technological transformation and is on its way to creating further synchronicity between humans and machines.
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