ThinkTWENTY20

With the beginning of a new year, it’s an occasion to think about what will be the big trends of the new year. The first thing that will pop to the minds of many is artificial intelligence, particularly Generative AI. It’s been just over a year since ChatGPT made its presence known to the public, prompting a wave of speculation, hype and true activity.

That activity has been impressive, including numerous new apps, both oral and written and the incorporation of AI into a number of established programs. Microsoft was one of the first companies to adopt Generative AI in 2023. First, they announced a large investment in OpenAI and launched its own chatbot for its Bing search platform and an AI bot for Windows 11. Google, Amazon and Meta followed suit.

This will absolutely continue in the new year and expectations are that adoption will continue to spread, particularly among smaller organizations with speciality products. Business and households will notice the availability of more and smarter robots, perhaps replacing some human activity but more often creating new opportunities for people.

One of our biggest challenges is to combat the rising incidence of cybersecurity and cybercrime, which is costing business billions and impeding business functionality and progress. AI will be a major tool for detecting and anticipating threats, because of its ability to handle vast volumes of data.

The more intelligent chatbots made possible by generative AI will become a lot more popular generally, but in particular in the fields of education and medicine.

It promises to be an exciting year!