As the curtain rise for 2019, do expect to see major changes in how organizations use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the new year. AI has shown immense potential to make our lives much easier, a fact which does not stop in our homes, as businesses constantly come up with new ways to use AI to engage with customers, make processes easier and pull revenues to new highs. The effectiveness and popularity of AI-powered chatbots in recent years has catapulted an increased interest in how artificial intelligence is deployed to improve the results of ad campaigns.

Forrester Research says that 2019 will see the rise of new digital workers with an increased competition for data professionals with AI skills. What is next in business for AI and how can it further boost the success of businesses in the new year, here is what to expect from Artificial Intelligence in 2019.

#1: Virtual Agents

Many businesses, large and small have begun to deploy AI-powered chatbots in their business and organisations to answer website visitors' questions, help customers check out and qualify sales leads. The new-year 2019 will expect to witness phenomenal advances in AI-powered customer services. Companies will not only use chatbots but they will create virtual agents with a face and personality to match to handle complex tasks to drive business, like, Autodesk's virtual agent Ava has a female face with a voice that speaks emulating the company's brand. Ava is much more successful than its predecessors because the team has invested time in creating its persona. Come 2019 and expect to witness more companies investing in life-like AI-powered virtual agents which will be entrusted to carry on engaging conversations with customers.

#2: Speech Recognition

Amazon's Alexa became a big hit with consumers in 2018, making living easy and offering an easy option to search information on the web. Get set for 2019 and expect to see a lot more speech recognition tools as 66.6 million Americans are projected to be using speech or voice recognition technology by 2019. Giants like Sony, Hisense and TiVo have unveiled TVs that can be controlled by voice, and even home appliance makers such as Delta, Whirlpool and LG have added Alexa's voice recognition skills to assist people control everything in their homes. The new -year will see more companies and products adopting speech recognition technologies.

#3: Smart Recommendations

Whenever an online shopping is done you will be inundated with recommendations based on items you have previously purchased or browsed. Brace yourself for smarter retail recommendations in 2019 as Artificial intelligence will be able to recommend products based on sentiment analysis in addition to your browsing history. Expect more personalized and guided shopping experiences in the new-year.

#4: Image Recognition

AI has made it possible to teach computers how to see, acquire, process and analyse data from visual sources! Surprised?  Image recognition is all set to cause a disruption in the new year. Expect image recognition to detect license plates, diagnose diseases, and allow for photo analysis to complete payments or other verifications. Image recognition can also help businesses redefine their marketing. Expect image recognition to become a big bet in 2019.

#5: Cyber Defence

Cybercriminals have actively targeted software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms, cloud infrastructure and internet of things devices making tech security a menace for business owners. In 2019, expect artificial intelligence to be more powerful in fighting off cyber threats and prevent potential hackers. Companies including Darktrace have deployed artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to detect online enemies' real-time and identify cyber threats before they spread. AI is empowered to pick up abnormal activity indicators and defend your system early before the threat becomes uncontrollable.

Forrester Research has released its top predictions for artificial intelligence in 2019, in its report, "Predictions 2019: Artificial Intelligence No Pain, No Gain With Enterprise AI." Authored by analysts Diego Lo Giudice, Michele Goetz, Brandon Purcell, Craig Le Clair and Mike Gualtieri, this report sees major changes in how organizations use AI deploying the new digital workers that pose an increased competition for data professionals with AI skills. Here are the five top trends Forrester expects to see in 2019.

1. Data doldrums will continue to be a difficult proposition

The No. 1 challenge for AI adopters is quality data, regardless of the state of AI adoptability an individual or organisation is in. As enterprise aspirations for AI run high in 2019, Forrester predicts a continued investment in good old information architecture (IA). The trends will turn from AI to IA as the majority of firms quickly realize that their AI adoption must be equally met with solid efforts on an AI-worthy data environment.

2. The race to scout the best AI talent will continue

As AI becomes the hottest tech trend, Two-thirds of AI decision makers struggle with acquiring and finding the best AI talent, and 83% struggle with retention as per Forrester report. The talent shortage goes beyond finding technical and data science experts as firms need social, operational expertise, legal, industry and customer experience experts to train, manage, and trust AI systems. Candidates who can demonstrate creative problem solving, coding, statistical skills, resiliency, and adjacent job experience over degrees will be preferred indicating that as traditional recruiting practices fail, companies will seek out new approaches and tools.

3. The rise of digital workforce

Robotic process automation (RPA) will create the new digital labour force. Till now, firms have been treating emerging technologies distinctly; including RPA for automation and AI for intelligence. To create breakthrough opportunities, RPA in addition to AI technology will turbocharge an organisation's innovation efforts. Firms which have already deployed AI building block technologies such as text analytics and ML with RPA features will drive greater value for digital workers as analytics steps up to play a dominant role. Chatbots bossing around RPA bots; internet-of-things (IoT) events that trigger digital workers; and text analytics will be the tech trend of 2019.

4. Explainable AI to dominate demand

As Forrester analysts write, when it comes to explainability and auditability, not all AI is created equal. Some of the ML algorithms yield transparent and understandable models; others, including neural networks, are opaque. In addition, there are regulations like the GDPR's Recital 71, stating that subjects of automated decision-making have the right to obtain an explanation of the decision reached will induct an interest in 2019 from both enterprises as well as vendors.

5. Rediscovering and bringing human expertise back into the loop

Machine Learning is exceptional at data analysis to create models that recognize patterns, automate decisions, and make predictions it lacks in human reasoning abilities. In 2019, enterprise AI honchos will rediscover digital decision platforms and knowledge engineering to encode and extract rules and build knowledge graphs from their expert customers and employees. Knowledge engineering's strength is human wisdom, and Machine learning employs data to drive decision making when used together, enterprises can dramatically accelerate the development of AI applications.

As the years go by, Artificial intelligence has integrated into our everyday world like no way before. Technology has made our home appliances smart to listen and understand our commands the future holds even big trends and expectations for 2019. Are you ready to welcome the new year!