The beginning of 2020 finds Artificial Intelligence and Big Data in the forefront of digital transformation. The maritime industry is embracing them wholeheartedly due to their true potential to meet the ever-increasing and complex traffic and shipping demand for safety, performance, energy efficiency, automation, and environmental impact. The implementation of AI approaches in maritime stems from the need to effectively process and analyse the extremely large amounts of data that are being generated by maritime vessels. The key to addressing these challenges lies in research and innovation, especially in novel algorithms, tools, and platforms within the areas of AI and Big Data to unlock the new possibilities of a diverse range of current maritime applications. Under this context, the current publication aims at showcasing AI approaches and research initiatives in the maritime industry by performing an indicative landscape analysis of research publications in the aforementioned domains, between the period 2016-2022. The various AI initiatives uncovered from the research are grouped and presented in three representative categories to provide a clear picture of the research effort of integrating AI in maritime processes.