2024 Predictions

Pixabay

At the start of the year, it was doom, gloom, trails, tribulations, and myriad other complexities in Web3, blockchain, and AI. Now, we welcome a relativiely positive end-of-year turnaround with a Bitcoin
BTC
price recovery, hundreds of exciting innovations, and plenty of good news stories. Who saw that coming?

While trying to predict the future in an industry that blows hot and cold so fast is a thankless task, I do have eleven predictions that I want to share with you. The list is based on what I think is missing, what I feel is undervalued, what I believe will have its moment this year, and what I know will inevitably change the world.

Let’s get to it.

Expanding Interoperability

Interoperability in Web3 means two different things to me. First, it’s the interoperability between Web3 platforms, when different blockchains can talk to each other, work together, and share their audiences and even technology. Then, there’s the second kind, the interoperability between Web2 and Web3 — the old and the new.

The introduction of Web3-enabled Web2 domains is one of the best ways of bridging the gap between Web2 and Web3, and we’ve set a precedent at Unstoppable that challenges others to innovate at this high level.

As such, my first trend prediction is to see other major Web3 innovators find ways to integrate with Web2 and bring Web2 natives into Web3 in a really user-friendly manner. This is about creating technology that encourages behavior change and avoids resistance. If we can do that, the potential use cases are limitless.

The Increasing Value of Digital Identity

I am a huge champion of the digital identity movement because I fervently believe it’s a much-needed change, both societally and technologically. There are so many trust issues online and a dearth of ways to identify ourselves securely, which leads to far too many opportunities for scammers and bad guys. Soon, we will put an end to that.

Blockchain-based digital identity offers the solution, and I’m so excited to see its growth, especially since Unstoppable is a leader in the space. Mass adoption is right around the corner, and 2024 could be the year it happens. Brazil and Argentina are among the first countries to implement blockchain-based national IDs, while the small island nation Palau offers a Web3 identity to anyone for a small fee. Japan is also focused on digital identity.

As Hinza Asif, President of the Asia Web3 Alliance Japan and CEO of NFTStudios24 stated, “At Asia Web3 Alliance Japan, we’re leading the charge into a digital identity revolution set for 2024. Our focus spans across Asia, anticipating a dynamic shift. Digital identity isn’t just a concept; it’s the key to secure transactions, efficiency, and global connectivity. Imagine a future where trust is paramount, and reliability is guaranteed—this is the era we’re shaping. With Japan’s commitment, we’re at the forefront, propelling into a new era of seamless experiences and exciting possibilities.”

Hinza Asif, President of Asia Web3 Alliance Japan

Asia Web3 Alliance Japan

As the next generation enters the workforce, the increasing value and demand of digital identity is undeniable. If Millennials were the first digital-native cohort, Gen Z are the ones frustrated by the challenges of on- and off-line identity and the failure of out-of-date Web2 models. Soon, we will see hundreds of millions of people use their digital identities to control what they share, how they interact, and who they interact with. The level of personalization and protection this will offer has never been seen before.

The U.S. Election Will Struggle With Deep Fakes

Hold on for dear life; election season is coming. Before your Facebook friends go to war with each other or you start having doubts about people you were absolutely fine with just a moment ago, consider how easily people have been manipulated in recent years. Foreign interference, Cambridge Analytica, lies, manipulation, and so much more have made modern elections more complicated than ever. Now, add AI and all of its capabilities for fake images, videos, voice, and text, and there’s good reason to be deeply alarmed. We urgently need a form of trust verification for political information.

Meta, Google
GOOG
, and many other major platforms have already updated their policies on political ads and fake content, doing their best to remove deepfake technology from their platforms (where possible). Microsoft
MSFT
, U.S. regulators, and even the state of New York are channeling their energy into tackling the threat of AI to the U.S. elections.

Deep Fakes

getty

“In the age of AI, trust is the currency of democracy, demanding a profound shift in how we verify information, beyond policies alone,” states Dr. Mustansar Ali Ghazanfar, Department of Computer Science and Digital Technologies, School of Architecture, Computing and Engineering, University of East London, UK

Blockchain technology presents a robust solution in addressing the challenges of fake news and deep fake manipulation in U.S. elections. By leveraging blockchain’s decentralized and tamper-resistant nature, a transparent and immutable ledger can be established for news sources and content dissemination. This ensures that the origin and modification history of news articles and media files are traceable, empowering users to verify the authenticity of information. Decentralized fact-checking mechanisms built on blockchain can provide real-time verification, curbing the rapid spread of misinformation.

They could, of course, just use this decentralized ledger technology and verifiable identity solutions. In the end, I think they’ll realize that, too, and quite early in 2024. I also believe, however, that it may be too late and that the election will struggle with AI fakes anyway.

The Rise of AI Interactive Games

In 2024, the gaming industry is witnessing a seismic shift driven by the rise of interactive AI-based games. With market projections indicating a staggering growth rate, from $922 million in 2022 to an estimated $7,105.4 million by 2032, this transformation is not only expanding the gaming landscape but also democratizing game creation.

Non-technical individuals are now empowered to craft niche games that resonate with diverse audiences, offering personalized experiences and accessibility enhancements for players with disabilities. Furthermore, a new wave of part-time game developers is emerging, attracting the attention of major gaming corporations eager to broaden their market presence.

AI integration within game engines like Unity and Unreal Engine is not only fostering creativity but also promoting inclusivity, as it enables underrepresented individuals to realize their imaginative gaming visions. For example, “The 360Fashion Maze” game, spearheaded by visionary Anina Net, leverages Unity. This innovative game exemplifies the potential of technology in the hands of marginalized creators, offering an inclusive and diverse gaming experience.

360Fashion Maze by Anina Net

360Fashion Maze

As Anina Net passionately states, “Through empowering women, the ethnically and economically marginalized, we have the opportunity with our game to undo the sins of fashions past and make everyone included/represented on the catwalk. The 360Fashion Maze game has diversity baked in from the beginning by its diverse and creative creators.” This game serves as a testament to the transformative power of AI in gaming, not only breaking down barriers but also fostering a more inclusive and imaginative gaming universe.

Increased Adoption of Enterprise AI Will Drive New Blockchain Demand for Productivity & Independents

Enterprise AI, if you’re new to the term, is the combination of artificial intelligence and software designed to meet organizational needs. It’s AI for regular businesses. Entrepreneurs are finding all sorts of awesome ways to leverage AI to improve their businesses and workflows, and others are even designing entire businesses around AI tools.

“The pace of technological development of AI keeps accelerating. This brings endless opportunities to tackle workplace problems that have been unsolved for decades. One example is meetings. In 2023, it is one of the common productivity drainers in enterprises. Moving in 2024, AI is on the pace to enable real-time moderation on those corporate sessions. This will save tons of time for employees, and, subsequently, money for companies. Our team and I are excited to be at the forefront of this technological advance and be one of its movers to the market,” Danny Li, Co-founder and CEO at Naratta.

My prediction is for a flood of new AI use cases, but ideally, these will focus on empowering more independent entities, like models, artists, and influencers. I still think major businesses will get involved in enterprise AI, but I really see individuals as the ones who will find more use for it in their income streams. It’s going to shake up so many organizations and sectors; in fact, Sifted and Sapphire Ventures’ report, which recognizes the most promising privately held software companies in Europe and Israel, featured 22 Enterprise AI startups in the top 100.

Rising AI Will Drive Demand for the “Human Touch”

This is something I’ve started to see already – businesses and individuals marketing the fact that they don’t use AI as a unique selling point. This is such an interesting development because we’re going to see one group of people embracing Enterprise AI and others completely avoiding it!

The value of human expertise and the human touch will increase this year as businesses aim to avoid looking and sounding like their competitors. I don’t know about you, but I know straight away when I’m reading AI-written content.

The Human Touch

Adobe

Dr. Natalie Petouhoff, AI Consultant and best-selling author, has some great insight on our relationship with AI at work: “If we think about “work” as a block of marble, AI will be key to the efficiency of shaping it, but in 2024, it will still require the human mind to know who the “work” serves, their goals, needs, and desires,” she wrote. “AI requires the human touch.”

SEO algorithms may also play into this in the future. Will search engines punish websites that rely on content written by ChatGPT and similar tools? It’s plausible.

With so much polarization in the media, I think it’s only time before Pro-AI vs Zero-AI becomes something individuals squabble over. Will one approach prevail, or will we find a middle ground? By the end of 2024, we’ll be a lot closer to knowing the answer.

The Explosive Growth of Responsible AI

This is a topic close to my heart. Responsible AI is the idea of fair, transparent, and just AI. Until now, a LOT of AI practices have been irresponsible, and so now we are seeing lawsuits, corruption, and illegalities in the space. This HAS to end!

I think back to the Spotify vs Napster case. Spotify came along with a more fair model that rewarded creators, added more value, and was more popular with consumers. It set a positive precedent. I think Responsible AI is going to have its Spotify moment this year, and it may involve getting rewarded for sharing your data.

Sustainable IT to Grow in Global Importance

It feels like we’ve been calling for the IT industry to be more green and sustainable for years. Perhaps it has changed for the better, but I don’t think it’s doing so fast enough to keep up with demands. I think this year, we will see more demand for renewably generated energy for IT companies, as well as sustainable material procurement for hardware.

One company I love is Soarce, which replaces synthetic textile materials with sustainable alternatives made from seaweed and nanomaterials. I predict that manufacturers will start to pay a lot more attention to companies like Soarce when they build their products.

Soarce

PIXABAY

Other companies have also made a big bet for 2024. As Phillip Cullom, CEO and Founder of Resilient Energi told me, “The real game-changer for 2024 lies in the integration of innovative materials, like affordable graphene, into chip and hardware manufacturing and AI. With its capacity to conduct electricity 10 times faster and mitigate thermal heating, using sustainable sources to produce graphene paves the way for a circular economy solution to global IT energy needs. This is the vision driving Resilient Energi in the pursuit of a sustainable IT future.”

Given the fact that AI, machine learning, Web3, and blockchain networks are all energy-intensive processes and have a lot of hardware needs, the importance of pushing for sustainable IT practices cannot be understated.

Customer Obsession Strategies to Protect & Grow Profits

In 2021 and 2022, some of the world’s biggest tech companies had to make serious layoffs, with hundreds of thousands of people losing their jobs. As a result of this mass exodus, customer experience suffered. Many consumers have grown frustrated, disillusioned, or disappointed with their favorite brands and even questioned whether they truly lived out the ideals they tried so hard to portray. I saw talented friends and loved ones get cut by mega-corporations, and that frustration and anger filtered through to customers.

I think these huge companies have some work to do to rebuild trust with their customers, especially those in the tech space. This could mean more strategic hires in customer-facing roles, the integration of AI to learn about the consumer, or outsourcing call center roles to developing areas.

If major businesses want to protect their profits, they need to start by pleasing the people who spend their hard-earned money on them, and that means being obsessed with their customers to make them feel valued, heard, and seen.

Rise of Women in Corporate Boards in 2024

In 2024, the corporate world is poised to witness a significant increase in the presence of women on boards, influenced by the EU’s 2022 mandate for gender balance and recent developments like the disappointment of both women being removed from the OpenAI board. This shift towards greater female representation is not just a compliance-driven change but a reflection of a broader movement towards diversity and equality in corporate leadership. The impact of these women in decision-making roles, as shown by the proactive and analytical approaches, will likely encourage more companies to embrace this change, predicting a year where the presence of women on boards becomes a norm rather than an exception.

As I was chatting with Dr Anino Emuwa in preparation for Davos, she said “Women directors help organizations rise by improving the decision- making of boards. They are found to come better prepared to meetings, to speak up and ask the tough questions, and are less concerned about not rocking the boat.” Dr. Anino Emuwa, Managing Director, Avandis Consulting, Founder, 100 Women@Davos.

Dr Anino Emuwa, Managing Director, Avandis Consulting, Founder, 100 Women@Davos

Dr Anino Emuwa

Major Tech Changes for 2024 Go Beyond Tech

I think all of the things I’ve mentioned in this article will play a role in major cultural change. Not every technology affects culture, but all the examples I’ve chosen undoubtedly will. Digital identity, AI regulations, election influence, customer obsession, and sustainable IT will affect all of us in some way or another.

AI, Spatial, and Web3 are already changing the way we work, govern, communicate, and interact, so naturally, they will affect our culture. That’s going to accelerate this year in profound ways.

These new technologies are about more than just creating cool new tech. For example, companion AIs like chatGPT are being used for an average of two hours per day, deferring our thinking, changing how we search for information, and reducing our human interactions. We are changing as a species at an extraordinary rate.

All considered, 2024 looks set to bring a period of transformation where tech redefines our digital experiences and our societal and cultural norms. As we navigate the shifting landscape, the coalescence of innovation, responsibility, and sustainability is paramount in ensuring positive progression for both industries and individuals alike.

Fuente