For clarity, we can break down the AI capabilities into three different buckets, how AI can help the business directly, how AI can help the users and how AI can help with the development and maintenance of the forms themselves.

There are two main ways that AI is being used at business level and that is around automated data entry and fraud detection. Using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) technologies allow for data to be extracted directly from the digital forms reducing manual errors and saving time. Leveraging AI for the automated data entry is a huge step forward for many organizations who may have automated some portions of their data entry, but many still lean on manual data entry which is far more error prone.

The second big trend that businesses are using AI for their forms is in fraud detection. AI is very good at analyzing patterns, trends and anomalies. Having AI analyze form submissions allows for early detection of fraudulent activities being entered into the system.

Leveraging AI with forms, from a user experience, also has many benefits. The two big industry trends are smart form filling, integrated AI chatbots for customer support. Together they help streamline the process of manually having to complete a form, encouraging users to submit the form rather than abandoning it halfway through.

Often when a user begins to complete a form, they will abandon it before completion. Smart form filling leverages AI to predict and automatically populate form fields based on previous entries or user data, significantly enhancing both user experience and efficiency. By analyzing patterns and historical data, AI can accurately anticipate the information a user is likely to input, reducing the time and effort required to complete forms. This predictive capability not only speeds up the process but also minimizes errors and inconsistencies, ensuring that the data collected is accurate and reliable. Additionally, smart form filling can adapt to individual user preferences and behaviors, providing a personalized experience that feels intuitive and seamless.

AI chatbots integrated with forms significantly enhance customer support by guiding users through the form-filling process. These chatbots can provide step-by-step instructions, ensuring that users complete each section accurately and efficiently. They are equipped to answer common questions and clarify doubts in real-time, reducing the need for human intervention and minimizing errors. Additionally, AI chatbots can offer personalized assistance based on user data, making the experience more intuitive and user-friendly. This real-time support not only improves user satisfaction but also increases the overall efficiency of the form submission process, leading to higher completion rates and better data quality for businesses.

As interesting as these features have been so far, I feel like development is really where I see the greatest benefits at least based on what AI can do today. Everything from documentation to code generation to testing can all benefit from AI reducing the amount of time to get a new form created or updated.

AI tools are transforming software documentation by automatically generating in-code comments and external resources like user manuals and API guides. By analyzing code structure, AI ensures documentation is accurate, consistent, and up to date. This saves developers time, supports onboarding and helps maintain high code quality for more efficient, sustainable development.

Automated code allows AI to turn plain language descriptions into functional code, speeding up development and reducing errors. By handling repetitive tasks, AI lets developers focus on more complex, creative work like feature design and performance optimization. This boosts productivity and fosters a more engaging development environment, with the potential to transform how software is built.

Dynamic schema bindings leverage AI to intelligently understand and interpret schema structures, enabling the automatic association of form field elements with their corresponding elements in the schema. This capability allows for seamless integration and mapping of data between forms and backend systems, ensuring that the information entered by users is accurately and efficiently processed.

By dynamically linking form fields to the appropriate schema elements, AI reduces the need for manual configuration and minimizes the risk of errors. This not only streamlines the data entry process but also enhances the overall reliability and consistency of the data being collected. As a result, businesses can achieve greater efficiency in data management and improve the accuracy of their data-driven decisions. This technology is particularly valuable in complex environments where forms and schemas frequently change, such as in enterprise applications, healthcare and financial services.

AI-driven testing and debugging are revolutionizing the software development lifecycle by automating the identification of bugs and vulnerabilities. Unlike manual testing, which can be time-consuming and prone to human error, AI can systematically and efficiently scan code to detect issues with remarkable accuracy.

By leveraging machine learning algorithms, AI tools can learn from previous testing data to predict potential problem areas and prioritize them for review. This automation not only accelerates the testing process but also ensures a more thorough examination of the code, leading to higher quality software. Additionally, AI can continuously monitor code changes and perform regression testing, ensuring that new updates do not introduce new bugs. This capability significantly shortens release cycles, allowing developers to deploy updates and new features more rapidly. As a result, businesses can respond more quickly to market demands and maintain a competitive edge, all while delivering robust and reliable software products.

All this to be said, AI is a powerful tool and can help in many different areas of our business and it is critical that we continue to stay up to date with what possibilities are out there, but a word of caution to this tale, don’t try to boil the ocean. Yes, AI can do a lot for improving our forms — from streamlining business process, better user experience, to faster development times — but focus on one area first that will make a strong impact and still turn around results quickly to prove AI’s worth, rather than trying to take on all of these great tasks at once.