AI, Energy & Education: The Blue Oceans to Explore

By 2025, it is predicted that artificial intelligence would generate 58 million new employment, according to a 2018 World Economic Forum research. But this is where things start to become really interesting because the average age of the planet is also rapidly declining at the same time. Seniors who are alone are becoming an increasing problem in nations like Japan, South Korea, and Germany. On the other side, nations experiencing a demographic dividend are reporting an increase in the number of mental health-related cases. The increased workload can be held responsible for this. Experts identify a need for emotional support in either of these two scenarios. The development of "Emotional AI"—systems that can comprehend, interpret, and react to human emotions—is inevitable as AI technology develops. Think about technologies that can assist people in better managing their emotional wellbeing or artificial intelligence (AI) that can service clients based on their present emotional condition. According to McKinsey analysts, the emotional AI market will not only revolutionise mental health and customer service, but also create new opportunities for business owners to use emotional AI in other industries. What options exist for business owners then? Four examples come to mind:

Emotion Recognition for Customer Service

A system that can analyse consumer emotions when they interact with customer care professionals may be created using emotional artificial intelligence (AI). The system should be able to assess client satisfaction and spot chances for personalised answers using facial expression analysis, tone of voice, and natural language processing. While real-time feedback on the customer's mood may help an executive decide what to do next, training can benefit from a review of how the conversation went.

Mental Health Monitoring and Support

This will be very helpful in reducing elderly people's loneliness. Make an emotional AI platform that monitors people's emotional states, such as stress, anxiety, or depression, using wearables and other sensors. To support mental health, the system should be able to offer real-time feedback and customised solutions. This could take the role of a buddy or a counsellor.

Emotional AI in Human Resources

In the little time a business has to evaluate a candidate, it is exceedingly challenging to judge an applicant. Here, an emotional AI system can be incredibly useful. Entrepreneurs might create an emotional AI tool that HR departments can use to gauge the feelings of interview candidates. The system may assess candidates' emotional fit and cultural fit by examining their facial expressions, speech patterns, and other cues.

Emotional AI in Virtual Reality (VR) and Training

This is an extremely novel business idea. It is possible to develop an emotional artificial intelligence system that improves trainees' virtual reality training experiences. Based on a real-time analysis of user emotions, the system can modify the story, challenges, and material to offer individualised and engaging experiences. The best use cases might be for pilot training, military exercises, and fire training drills, among others. These positions will call for someone who is not only technically proficient but also mentally tough.

The world is moving towards a greener future. Climate change and consumer demand for sustainable practises are the driving forces behind this, which is not a luxury but a necessity. Energy demand is rising across the board, not just in industrialised areas but also in private houses. Decentralised energy production is becoming more popular because there is a considerable level of transmission loss. According to the International Energy Agency's (IEA) World Energy Outlook study, decentralised energy sources, primarily green energy, will account for about 30% of power output by 2040. Entrepreneurs have a wide range of options in this area, from cutting-edge energy producing technologies to effective storage options and community energy-sharing networks. Here are three that come to mind:

Energy Storage Solutions for Residential Buildings

Large residential areas need a lot of energy as well, in addition to the high energy demand in industrial areas. Numerous businesses are already striving to solve problems for various industries, leaving an open market for new business owners to blitz the residential alternative. There may be new businesses that create and produce affordable energy storage devices for homes. These systems ought to store extra electricity produced by renewable resources and offer backup power during blackouts. Contrary to industrial use cases, the emphasis here should be on user-friendly interfaces and scalability to accommodate a range of household energy demands.

Peer-to-Peer Energy Trading Platform

Every time supply and demand need to be balanced, trading has been observed to take place. These increase the likelihood of trade in energy. But other technologies may need to converge for this to be practical. Entrepreneurs may create a platform that enables people and companies to transact directly in excess renewable energy. But how can a transparent payment system be created? Blockchain technology may be used to ensure fair pricing and effective energy distribution within local communities by facilitating secure and transparent transactions.

Energy Efficiency Monitoring and Management

Although it is crucial to produce and transfer renewable energy via decentralised systems, it is also crucial to utilise the energy as efficiently as possible. Systems that can provide real-time monitoring and management of energy consumption for business and residential buildings must be in place in order to accomplish this. The platform should be able to offer suggestions and insights that can be put into practise to optimise energy use, cut waste, and boost overall effectiveness. For accurate data collection, these insights and information should be coupled with smart devices and sensors.

Technology is allowing us a higher level of customization as it continues to permeate our schools. The next big thing in education may be personalised learning, which is instruction catered to the learning styles, deficits, and talents of each student. The "Early Progress: Interim Research on Personalised Learning" project was financed and carried out by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and it examined the outcomes of personalised learning in schools. According to the study, schools that adopted personalised learning strategies saw a noticeable increase in their test scores when compared to a control group. Entrepreneurs may find chances in this industry to create cutting-edge educational platforms, tutoring services, or ground-breaking edtech products that offer this individualised learning environment to students all over the world:

Adaptive Learning Platforms

Every child is unique, and they all learn at varying rates. However, the educational system has mostly been disregarding this fact for a very long time. The one-size-fits-all approach will no longer be effective, and learners will need tailored instruction. Entrepreneurs might attempt to create a platform for adaptable learning that combines AI and machine learning algorithms to customise educational material and fit it to the needs of each learner. In order to deliver personalised learning paths and recommendations, the platform should be able to analyse student performance, preferences, and learning styles.

Learning Analytics and Student Progress Tracking

A significant opportunity exists for creating a thorough learning analytics platform that gathers and examines information on student performance, behaviour, and engagement. This opportunity is closely related to the one previously talked about. The platform ought to give parents and teachers useful information they can use to monitor students' progress, spot their weaknesses, and tailor their education. To aid in decision-making, entrepreneurs should consider providing data visualisation tools and predictive analytics.

Gamified Learning Apps

It is time to challenge the notion that education should be dull. Entrepreneurs should strive to make learning enjoyable for everyone. Building gamified learning programmes that incorporate informative gameplay features with educational content is possible. Gamification strategies like rewards, badges, and leaderboards ought to energise and customise the learning process. Other entrepreneurs who are working on producing products that involve adaptive learning platforms may leverage these platforms as a B2B offering.