INSIGHT
THE FUTURE OF AI IS IN YOUR HANDS
The use of data science and artificial intelligence will revolutionise igaming’ s supply chain, says Mark McGuinness
THE IGAMING INDUSTRY SUPPLY CHAIN is an ecosystem that is heavily reliant on data and statistics. Data and statistics can be used for: the generation of more efficient betting odds for sports books; behaviour-based economic marketing software that applies risk profiles to players; revenue optimisation; credit scoring; predicative suggestions about which betting proposition the customer may bet on next( or, more importantly, not bet on); and certain types of digital campaign-based marketing, such as pay-per-click and programmatic marketing.
Data science— and robots with a human-like consciousness— used to be something that the public associated with Hollywood movies such as the Terminator franchise, more fantasy than fiction, right? Many of us remember Terminator 2’ s now infamous quote—“ The Skynet Funding Bill is passed. The system goes online August 4th, 1997. Human decisions are removed from strategic defense. Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 am Eastern time, August 29th”, or the more easily quoted“ The truth is out there” from The X-Files. Yes, folks, whether we realise it or not, artificial intelligence or machine learning is highly prevalent even in the igaming supply chain, although perhaps not visible to the naked eye.
Data science in the context of artificial intelligence( AI) is a vast subject. Generally, if you ask the igaming public what AI is, the answer is a robot with consciousness. The reality is that it isn’ t the robot, which is merely the outer vessel, it is the computer program that has the intelligence component. For example, the software behind Amazon’ s Echo or Apple’ s virtual companion application Siri is AI. The woman’ s voice you hear is a projected personification of that AI, with no physical robot component involved. AI and its applications for us mere mortals can be summarised in three usage cases or categories. The first is referred to as ANI or artificial narrow intelligence and is sometimes known as weak AI. This means the AI specialises in one particular application area and doesn’ t have certain intelligence capabilities. A good example of ANI is when you contact your credit card provider or bank and you talk to the automated voice recognition service that can never understand your accent.
The second category is artificial general intelligence( AGI). This is often referred to as strong AI or human-level AI. In other words, the machine can perform humanlike intellect-oriented tasks, such as problem-solving and thinking abstractly. An oft-cited example of AGI is IBM’ s Deep Blue computer, the chess-playing computer that gained fame by beating then world chess champion Garry Kasparov.
The third category, and perhaps what’ s now regarded as the future, is artificial superintelligence( ASI), a blend of the previous two AI applications. This is the computer that is much smarter than the best human minds in every academic field, full stop. It’ s the supercomputer that can evolve into a higher state of consciousness, perhaps one of transcendence, to replace us mere carbon-based life forms.
So what is the deep impact for igaming business applications? We know we are some years away from fully self-aware AI applications, such as the fictional Skynet or so-called Big Brother government. So what are today’ s applications of AI for the igaming industry?
Well, most of the applications involve data science and machine-based learning programs. This is where, yes, a human writes a series of algorithms looking
“ If they didn’ t use machine-based AI, it’ s likely they’ d end up with an unviable product, because there would be far fewer in-play markets available to bet on”
46 iGB Affiliate Issue 66 DEC 2017 / JAN 2018