#6 Search the Web for information about how artificial intelligence is applied to support certain aspects of business operation.

Artificial intelligence technologies have emerged that hold considerable promise in helping improve the forecasting process including such applications as product demand, employee turnover, cash flow, distribution requirements, manpower forecasting, and inventory. These AI based systems are designed to bridge the gap between the two traditional forecasting approaches: managerial and quantitative.

AI used in Economics

"Five years ago it would have taken $500,000 and 12 people to do what today takes a few computers and co-workers," "I'm executing 1,500 to 2,000 trades a day and monitoring 1,500 pairs of stocks. My software can automatically execute a trade within 20 milliseconds - five times faster than it would take for my finger to hit the buy button."

Louis Morgan

Studies estimate that a third of all stock trades in the United States were driven by automatic algorithms last year, contributing to an explosion in stock market activity. Between 1995 and 2005, the average daily volume of shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange increased to 1.6 billion from 346 million.

"Artificial intelligence is becoming so deeply integrated into our economic ecostructure that some day computers will exceed human intelligence"

"Machines can observe billions of market transactions to see patterns we could never see."

Ray Kurzweil

AI in Hospitals

A medical clinic can use artificial intelligence systems to organize bed schedules, make a staff rotation, and provide medical information.

Artificial neural networks are used as clinical decision support systems for medical diagnosis, such as in Concept Processing technology in EMR software.


AI in Toys and Games

Toys and games have long been linked to Artificial Intellegence. The 1990s saw some of the first attempts to mass-produce domestically aimed types of basic Artificial Intelligence for education, or leisure. This prospered greatly with the Digital Revolution, and helped introduce people, especially children, to a life of dealing with various types of AI, specifically in the form of Tamagotchis and Giga Pets, the Internet (example: basic search engine interfaces are one simple form), and the first widely released robot, Furby. A mere year later an improved type of domestic robot was released in the form of Aibo, a robotic dog with intelligent features and autonomy.

AI has also been applied to video games. The artificial intelligence is demonstrated by the computers' ability to think on its on and make decision based off of your own decisions.

#5 Briefly explain the knowledge spiral modelusing an example to discuss the process of knowledge creating in an organizational setting.

"The Nonaka and Takeuchi KM model focuses on knowledge spirals that explains the transformation of tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge and then back again as the basis for individual, group, and organizational innovation and learning." (K. Dalkir)

The knowledge spiral process suggests that learning is a continuous process. With organizations growing and becoming more efficient everyday it is important to gain knowledge that can be shared throughout the organization. In theory all organizations should follow this concept. Whether they do or not is a different question.

Taking a simple "dictionary definition", tacit knowledge is that which is understood without being openly expressed; it is unvoiced or unspoken. An example might be the knowledge that a native speaker has of a language. Explicit knowledge on the other hand is that which can be expressed clearly, fully and leaves nothing implied. An example might be knowledge that can be formally expressed and transmitted to others through manuals, specifications, regulations, rules or procedures.

First step: Socialization

Much knowledge, perhaps 80%, lies in people's brains. The aim for the knowledge worker is to find ways to collect this tacit knowledge. Socialization consists of sharing knowledge through social interactions.

Socialization is a very effective means of knowledge creation, maybe one of the easiest but nethertheless the more limited. It is also very difficult and time-consuming to disseminate all knowledge using this mode only.

Second step: Externalization

The process of externalization gives a visible form to tacit knowledge and converts it to explicit knowledge.

Third step: Combination

Combination is the process of recombining discrete pieces of explicit knowledge into a new form.

Fourth step: Internalization

Internalization, occurs through diffusing and embedding newly acquired and consolidated knowledge. In some way, internalization is strongly linked to "learning by doing".