Alibaba Cloud takes artificial intelligence to the masses

Imagine if you could accurately predict when and where your largest airfreight shipments will be sent each day. That futuristic ability may soon become available to a wide range of forwarders and shippers with Alibaba Cloud’s new artificial intelligence (AI) platform, called  PAI 2.0, which provides businesses and organizations machine-learning capabilities.

The platform, which launched in 2015, has been upgraded with a much more user-friendly interface to “help customers easily deploy large-scale data mining and modeling,” Alibaba Cloud said in a statement. Participating companies can collect information, discern patterns in data and adapt to new input without explicit programming.

The new 2.0 version of the PAI suite of tools and algorithms “allows businesses without an AI background to make practical use of Alibaba Cloud’s ET program.”

Alibaba Cloud’s chief scientist, Jingren Zhou, explained that PAI 2.0 will be “an effective tool for helping people and businesses resolve practical issues.” He added that Alibaba’s technology would reduce development costs and entry barriers to AI.

Some features of PAI 2.0 include more than 100 sets of algorithms that can be applied to tasks, such as data pre-processing, statistical analysis and deep-learning AI solutions.

PAI’s visual user interface also allows customers to drag and drop components into workflows, meaning that non-experts can handle complex business analytics functions with minimal training.

Alibaba Cloud said it is aiming first at China’s healthcare and manufacturing sectors with its new technology.

Those interested in learning more about airfreight in 2017, should join us at Cargo Facts Asia in Shanghai, 25 – 26 April.  To register, or for more information, go to CargoFactsAsia.com