7 Ways AI Could Impact Infrastructure Pros

Over the past few years, artificial intelligence (AI) technology has improved dramatically, and many industry analysts say AI will disrupt enterprise IT significantly in the near future.

For example, IDC forecasts that worldwide spending on cognitive systems and AI will climb from $8 billion in 2016 to more than $47 billion in 2020. "Software developers and end user organizations have already begun the process of embedding and deploying cognitive/artificial intelligence into almost every kind of enterprise application or process," David Schubmehl, a research director at IDC, said in a statement.

"Identifying, understanding, and acting on the use cases, technologies, and growth opportunities for cognitive/AI systems will be a differentiating factor for most enterprises, and the digital disruption caused by these technologies will be significant," he added.

In Gartner's list of Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2017, the first three -- AI & advanced machine learning, intelligent apps and intelligent things -- all revolve around artificial intelligence. In addition, the market research firm has projected that by 2021 40% of new enterprise applications implemented by service providers will include AI technologies.

How could this AI trend affect IT infrastructure professionals? Click ahead to check out some of the possibilities.

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