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Yes, there’s still a lot of regulation to get through, and yes, there will be tons of yay- and nay-sayers seeing it as the panacea/pandora’s box for all that ails us. Either way, AI is real, and it’s huge: A once-in-a-lifetime, transformative technology. We’re way past the point of using it as a fancy-pants shorthand for machine learning, and deep into the honeymoon period.
After generative AI’s blockbuster year, businesses of all kinds are excited about what AI can do for them in 2024. This year’s CDO Insights Report from Amazon shows that 80% of chief data officers believe generative AI will transform their business.
AI has become a must-have for remaining competitive. Deloitte’s State of AI in the Enterprise 5th Edition report found that 94% of global business leaders view AI as vital to success over the next five years.
As AI technology continues to advance and transform industries, what AI trends can we expect in 2024?
5 AI trends to watch in 2024
The coming year will see investment in AI from a vast majority of firms as inference costs (the cost of calling a large language model to generate a response) drop, and LLMs are commoditized and AI use expands. That said, higher interest rates and no shortage of geopolitical instability have combined to keep capex a little sluggish across the S&P 500, so don’t expect an immediate bonanza.
Companies riding shotgun with the generative AI revolution – Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia – will of course be investing big. Outside of the obvious players, data-centric firms will benefit first (think of all the coding-time they’ll save), alongside smaller more agile firms that find experimentation easier.
Advances in multi-model AI systems that combine various sources, including text, audio, images, and video to generate content, are expected to accelerate business transformation.
There’s still plenty of risk to shake out. Big tech firms are united in their excitement, but it wouldn’t be the first time that the technology has outpaced actual demand, so adoption will take time.
Here are five key AI trends to keep an eye on:
- Improving customer experience
- Boosting office productivity
- Speeding innovation
- Managing AI risk
- Transcending the touchscreen
1. AI puts the “custom” in customer experience
Combining the best of natural-language chatbots with real-time insights and customer data, in 2024 we’ll see brands use AI to target individuals with hyper-personalized ads and truly accelerate customized experiences across platforms.
Customer experience was the top focus for generative AI investment in a Gartner poll of 2,000 executive leaders.
With AI, businesses get deeper, real-time insight into customer behavior and preferences, which they can use to provide personalized product recommendations and offers. AI helps streamline product catalog management and product discovery to improve the online shopping experience, reduce manual labor, and ultimately, boost the bottom line.
Gen AI also promises to help improve customer service, which is core to the overall customer experience. This goes beyond smarter chatbots to helping agents respond to questions faster and come up with solutions more quickly.
2. Supercharging productivity in 2024
The big sell we often hear is that generative AI helps users be more productive while unleashing their creativity. In 2024, expect AI to become an even bigger trend in the workplace.
A KPMG LLP study found that a majority (66%) of 225 US executives polled believe gen AI will change the way people work in the future.
In the humdrum of day-to-day work, office essentials will be getting a (long overdue) upgrade thanks to AI productivity tools. These will enable everything from virtual assistants and email management tools to project management and reporting.
Microsoft and Google have been fast out of the gate with these kind of tools for collaboration, content creation, meetings, and other office tasks. But many other tech suppliers are adding AI capabilities to their enterprise applications to automate a broad range of work processes, from data analysis and operations management to employee recruitment.
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3. Accelerating idea generation
Done right, AI isn’t just a force multiplier for meeting summaries and data analysis, it punches up innovation too. A 2023 paper from Cornell Tech and The Wharton School argues that the hallucinations, lack of judgement and inconsistencies of large language models can be seen as “prized features, not bugs.”
According to the KPMG study, 62% of US executives believe AI could boost innovation to help create more products and services.
Automation of routine tasks helps free up workers to focus on innovating and problem solving, but generative AI tools also can help with idea creation, an AI trend that will grow in 2024. For example, you might struggle to come up with more than five ideas on a given topic in 15 minutes. With ChatGPT, your output shoots up to 200.
Idea generation gets a lot cheaper, so professionals can shift their focus to idea evaluation and refinement. Here, generative AI tools can be helpful as well, according to a Harvard Business Review study.
“One of the biggest opportunities generative AI offers to businesses and governments is to augment human creativity and overcome the challenges of democratizing innovation,” researchers wrote.
4. AI risk management trends up in 2024
Deploying generative AI may be a step too far for businesses that lack a firm grip on their data management. This is because AI tools could end up mistakenly leaking valuable data.
In purely practical terms, it’s tricky for firms to keep track of how employees are using AI. To know if, say, tech teams are uploading source code and other confidential data to chatbots (ask Samsung). Expect guidelines – and regulatory bodies – to multiply.
For example, the European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act proposes a regulatory framework for AI by categorizing systems according to their risk level and establishing corresponding obligations.
In the US, the Biden Administration issued an Executive Order that aims, among other things, to set standards for AI safety and security and protect Americans’ privacy.
Companies also are taking steps to mitigate AI risks by implementing policies for ethical development and use of AI and rules for protecting users’ data and privacy.
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5. Going beyond the touchscreen with AI
Things get even more exciting when we look at AI plus audio. Combine a decent chatbot with AR glasses or a VR headset, and suddenly we’re looking at a world beyond the touchscreen.
This AI trend may take some time to hit consumer tech due to regulation and pricing, but the conditions for breakthrough are there, and the technology generative AI makes the whole concept of smart glasses that bit more appealing – and closer than ever.
We’re already starting to see some signs of AI-driven screenless tech. Last fall, startup Humane launched its Ai Pin, a small, screenless AI-enabled wearable device that users can interact with in multiple ways, including voice and gestures.
Removing barriers, sorting out strategy
As AI models get smaller and faster (and less expensive to train), barriers to entry will get lower in 2024. This means we may see a profusion of proprietary models in data-heavy sectors such as health and finance. So long as the data quality is good, AI will increasingly be reached for to blend insights and use cases, with digital twins providing a terrific sandbox for fast testing.
Still, businesses can’t simply plow ahead with AI. They need to be strategic with their investments, aware of the data risks and impact on their workforce.
So riddle me this: What’s your use case? What’s the problem you’re using AI to fix?
