You’re probably tired already of the media hype around AI. But it isn’t all just about losing your job and robots running amok. There are huge opportunities for organisations brave enough to embrace and make the most of the technology as it evolves.I’m an economist specialising in AI for the finance industry and marketers in general. I increase my clients’ productivity and profits by bringing the latest machine learning techniques into their regular business routines. I try hard to make that process painless and fun, keeping them in control of both the process and result.I started out analysing and forecasting market outcomes in industry (telecoms and air transport) before transferring these skills to consultancies and think-tanks. Along the way, I’ve had the privilege of working closely with global corporations, SMEs and start-ups.My work is now in helping companies exploit their often-neglected goldmine of data and information to become more competitive and efficient, quantifying opportunities and risks along the way. For me, the reward is in creating value by uncovering solutions that my clients don’t have the time or experience to find.For financiers, this might mean forecasting option prices with neural networks or calculating efficient portfolio frontiers using Monte Carlo simulation. For marketers, maybe predicting customer engagement likelihood with random forests or creating new customer segmentation by k-means.I don’t think I‘m a tech nerd. But I do sometimes hang out with people who are.You can reach me at t.athaide@foresightfirst.co.uk. Or you can find out more about what I do at https://foresightfirst.co.uk/.