Trends in 2024

AI to help slow global warming  

According to The Financial Times, 2023 “will go down as the year that generative AI changed everything”; AI systems are now capable of having a radical impact on some of the world's major scientific challenges. Experts believe that in 2024 AI will have a growing impact on sustainable development and on slowing down man-made climate change. AI-powered smart homes will become the norm, boosting energy efficiency and reducing bills. AI will also help reduce aircraft condensation trails as part of an initiative launched by American Airlines, Breakthrough Energy, and Google. These line-shaped clouds produced by aircraft engine exhaust or changes in atmospheric pressure account for 35% of the impact of aviation on global warming.   

Retail: to experience the techvolution! 

Many retailers are adjusting to changing consumer habits and needs. This is the case with IKEA, a retailer that enhances its strengths by diversifying and moving away from its traditional image as the "blue box" shop. With outlets in town centres, it focuses more on "living in small spaces". This change is motivated by the company's major omnichannel ambitions; it aims to be perceived as a technology company rather than a retailer. With approximately 80% of its consumer journeys online, IKEA is heavily investing in augmented reality for their home design service. The company looks to provide customers with options at every stage, helping them to better plan their projects, as well as assemble products and become interior designers. An essential "techvolution" in the digital age!

Aviation: improve forecasting of turbulence

Climate change is making flights bumpy because of clear air turbulence. As the earth warms, warm air rises from the ground into the jet stream, where it blurs the fast flowing air currents that airplanes like to use to get to their destinations quicker while burning less fuel. Over the last forty years, this type of turbulence has increased by 55% in certain regions of the world, according to a study carried out by the University of Reading. Researchers have predicted that free-air turbulence in certain regions may triple over the next three to six decades. Airlines will be able to better predict the turbulence as various technologies such as sensors, satellites and data modelling, powered by artificial intelligence, become available.

Society: new value indicators

In 2024, we will be mindful of the impact of our economic decisions on the things that allow us to find happiness and blossom, such as community, creativity, nature and hope for the future. And we will incorporate these values into the way we measure economic progress.  Growth-driven economies have brought us to the brink of global collapse, leaving many of us mired in anxiety. The OECD's Better Life Index and Genuine Progress Indicator provide criteria that improve the way we measure what we really want from our economies, putting profit in its position as a means of improving health, education and economic opportunity, not as an end in itself.

Tech: towards a framework for generative AI  

Generative AI has become the technology in fashion, with its share of particularly worrying deepfakes. It is becoming increasingly difficult to tell fact from fiction as machines become better at generating images, video, audio, texts, codes and other 'human-like' content. In other words, elements created by generative AI, a branch of AI that uses neural networks to identify patterns and structures in existing data in order to generate new and original content. "Over the past 18 months, the speed of progress in AI-generated content and deepfakes has been staggering," wrote generative AI expert Henry Ajder, who advises companies such as Meta and EY on the technology's potential. So, in 2024, every country in the world will be looking to introduce new laws to regulate AI. Content provenance and transparency technologies will become even more crucial.        

Sources :  

https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/linkedin-news-europe/  

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