Besides AI and automation, the new realities of augmented and virtual reality technologies are said to be the next transformative force for businesses. But, instead of considering the two as poles apart, what if we consider their joint effect on businesses of today?

It is predicted that AR and VR developers will increasingly integrate smart and cognitive capabilities into their apps.

Consider this:

Computer vision- an arm of artificial intelligence, allows computers to comprehend what they are seeing through cameras. This can be a critical capability to integrate with augmented reality- allowing objects in the field of our vision to be identified and labeled.

Machine learning in the coming years can make these functionalities more and more sophisticated. Since VR is about putting people in altered reality settings, we can expect those environments to become smart and intuitive in the coming years.

Today, 80 percent of business executives believe it will be necessary to leverage the latest immersive technologies to close the physical gap between businesses and their employees/customers in the coming day and age.

Organizations are already toying with the idea to leverage AR to enhance the working environment.

1. AI as an Ingredient:

Today, business leaders like to see artificial intelligence as less of a standalone technology and more of an ingredient that fits with all other latest systems to improve their effectiveness and make them more meaningful to businesses and people.

If you want to buy a couch, for example, it makes sense for you to assess its look and feel in your home or office setting before paying for it.

These are the experiences AR can bring to life, allowing businesses to offer value and not just a product.

But, AR can’t act alone. Artificial intelligence is at the core of AR. The two are well positioned to sync on a variety of applications to create an impact for businesses and people.

AR is a game-changer in that the technology allows you to create immersive experiences that make the world playful. And, AI is the key to enabling AR to interact with the physical dimension in an intuitive manner.

AI can add value to augmented reality applications by combining functions such as gestural input, eye tracking, object recognition and tracking, and voice command recognition to allow you to manipulate 2D and 3D objects in the virtual space with your eyes, hands, and words.

You can get ready to unleash a whole new world of creativity and insights with AI-powered capabilities such as real-world object tagging- which can allow AR to predict the interface for a person in a given virtual setting.

2. Redefining Experiences with AR and AI:

The result from putting AI and AR together is a mixed reality that carries far more value than it would with only AR or AI.

AI can enable AR to act in real-time and real-world environments. Therefore, the result is a more relevant, actionable, and immersive customer experience that delights customers.

The latest in AR technology has led to new avenues for customer interaction and pre-purchase experiences. The furniture retailer IKEA recently implemented ARKit to create IKEA Place, an iPad, iPhone app that allows users to virtually place furniture pieces in their home settings and get a feel before they make a purchasing decision.

This try-before-you-buy approach is getting more and more common in the retail experiences offered by giants. Before making a major purchase, which would be hard to reverse, users feel it’s incredibly valuable if they can try the product.

As AR anchors the immersion of the object into the user’s surroundings, AI creates a multidimensional manipulation, resulting in a powerful experience. This combination creates an instant and accurate sense of how the furniture would look in a given environment.

And, this is only one example of what AI and AR can help achieve together.

3. 5 Ways AI Makes AR Even More Real:

AI can map environments in real-time and blend the results with a virtual world created through augmented reality. With instant depth perception and precise positioning, you can offer an immersive reality experience with real-world structures.

4. Selective Hazard Warnings:

In military strategies, AI can combine with AR to run millions of simulations, compare current situations to archives, and determine the best course of action to soldiers before they fire any bullets.

AR alongside AI can also highlight clear and present danger, allowing soldiers on the ground to make informed decisions and prioritize threats in order. ARC4 is one such implementation on this front.

5. Customized Training:

AI combined with AR carries huge potential for educating the next generation of medical practitioners, pilots, and so on.

Immersive experiences can help professionals carry on hands-on training and gain better insight into the real-world scenarios. Incorporating more data points and contrasting various techniques can enhance the overall learning experience with AI and AR.

6. Immersive Social Media:

Someday, our measly chat windows will appear laughable to us as we sit in virtual environments and sip coffee with our friends sitting in the next corner of the world. Facebook is currently using generative models from deep learning to design believable avatars of individuals based on their photos and help create a truly social media- post its purchase of Oculus Rift.

7. Character Modeling:

Right now, we have two methods for animating characters: manual CG work and motion capture. Handcrafted animations are tedious and motion capture is limited to physical capabilities of the actor.

AI methods such as self-teaching AI, phase-functioned neural networks, and learning by demonstration are helping develop a vast array of movements to improve the quality of animations.

Experts believe that the combined XR market will be worth over $61 bn by 2022, up from its current value of $10 bn.

A lot of the potential transformations in today’s businesses are a result of businesses wanting to exceed customer expectations and deliver valuable experiences that prompt trust and loyalty from users.

By that measure, artificial intelligence and augmented reality are the most potent force to combine powers in order to invent new business processes and build upon existing ones.