Big data in 2018: the experts have their say Posted on : Jan 19 - 2018

As 2017 is coming to its end, we’re already predicting what could be happening for big data in 2018; both in terms of its impact and its developments.

How will big data innovate businesses and control how consumers use their products or services? And what will the future of big data look like for workers? These ten big data experts share their thoughts.

Lillian Pierson is a Data Scientist that specialises in advising, training and coaching through her boutique data science consultancy Data-Mania.

Though it seems much of the western world has moved onto the next set of data buzzwords (#AI, #IoT, #DeepLearning), Lillian believes that “Big Data” still persists, and these new buzzwords are a result of the big data industry’s speciation as it advances.

 “Outside the modern world, however, in places like the Middle East and Asia, modern data technologies and methods have been adopted much more slowly,” says Lillian. “Even coming into 2018, their profound impacts are just beginning to be felt.”

As a trainer to corporate executives and technical professionals in these regions of the world, Lillian describes it as immensely rewarding to introduce such powerful methods and tools to the people who can use them to create massive efficiencies for their employers.

What’s more, “I’ve begun to recognise data skills as ‘the great equalizer’,” says Lillian. “No matter a person’s nation of origin, citizenship, gender or religion, people that are highly skilled in data science and/or engineering continue to enjoy open invitations to work on major projects in the most prestigious places on Earth. What could be more motivating and inspiring!”

Gregory Piatetsky-Shapiro, PhD is the President of KDnuggets, a leading site for Analytics, Big Data, Data Science, Data Mining, and Machine Learning.

He is a co-founder of KDD (Knowledge Discovery and Data mining conferences), a co-founder and past chair of ACM SIGKDD, a professional association for Data Mining and Data Science, and a well-known expert in the field.

Based on the amazing result of AlphaGo Zero, Gregory believes the Google DeepMind team will follow up and achieve another superhuman performance on a task “which only a few years ago, many people thought it was impossible to do by a computer.”

Gregory also predicts that we will see more self-driving car (and truck) progress, and also first-time problems (such as the Las Vegas self-driving shuttle that couldn’t move out of the way) will be solved to ensure self-driving vehicles will do as they should have in the first place.

Gregory’s final predictions will be that the AI bubble will see signs of growth in the near future, but he thinks there will be signs of “shake-out and consolidation.” View More