AI Will Be the Most Impactful Technology in 2024, Say Global CTOs (and Pretty Much Everyone Else)

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Extended reality, cloud computing, 5G and electric vehicles are also among the top five most important technologies in 2024, according to the IEEE, but there’s no prize for guessing which will have most impact.

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The survey of global technology leaders from the US, UK, China, India and Brazil found AI to be the most impactful technology next year, encompassing predictive and generative AI, machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP).

By contrast, extended reality (XR), including metaverse, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR), came second, just ahead of cloud computing in third.

AI, though, was voted in the top place by more than 65% of respondents, which included 350 CTOs.

In 2024, AI applications and algorithms that can optimize data, perform complex tasks, and make decisions with human-like accuracy will be used in diverse ways, the study finds.

According to the survey, among the top uses of AI in the coming year will be real-time cybersecurity, increasing supply chain efficiency, aiding and accelerating software development, automating customer service, and the speeding up screening of job applicants.

However, integrating AI into existing work isn’t as straightforward as flipping a switch. In the study, nearly half of respondents said they see difficulty integrating AI into existing workflows as one of the top three concerns when it comes to using generative AI in 2024.

“New use cases of generative AI and their integration into the general architecture may turn [out] to be serious challenges,” said IEEE life senior member Raul Colcher. “Good business analysts and system integrators will be essential.”technology in 2024. Cr:

Additional data from the survey illuminates the challenge. Respondents were asked to list the top skills they were looking for in candidates for AI-related roles.

“Prompt engineering, creative thinking and the ability to verify AI’s deliverables — these three skills are what you need to generate meaningful outcomes with the aid of generative AI,” said IEEE senior member Yu Yuan.

IEEE member Todd Richmond added, “We need to collectively figure out what are ‘human endeavors’ and what are we willing to cede to an algorithm, e.g., making music, films, practicing medicine, etc.”

The benefit of AI is clear to many, but there’s a tricky part: potential risks. Among them is the risk of overreliance on generative AI for facts. As the IEEE puts it, the problem is that those facts aren’t always accurate. And with all forms of AI, it can be difficult to find out how, exactly, the software arrived at its conclusion.

In the survey, 59% of respondents cited an “overreliance on AI and potential inaccuracies” as a top concern of AI use in their organizations. Part of the problem is that the training data itself can be inaccurate.

“Verifying training data is difficult because the provenance is not available and volume of the training data is enormous,” said IEEE life fellow Paul Nikolic.

In 2024 and beyond, expect intense efforts to ensure that AI results are more accurate, and the data used to train AI models is clean.

Benefits of 5G and 6G

The IEEE finds that 5G rollout in many areas is still in progress and hasn’t kept pace with expectations. About 43% of Americans had 5G subscriptions in 2023. In China, that number stood at about 59%. But consumers usually fail to notice a difference between their 5G and 4G speeds, and businesses haven’t invested in 5G services that telecom companies had envisioned. What’s more, many places simply don’t have the fiber optic infrastructure to support 5G.

“Unfortunately, the infrastructure for 5G is not as comprehensive as expected,” said IEEE senior member Paulo Eigi Miyagi, “so only some activities will be able to explore this technology.”

The survey suggests 5G technology would benefit most in the coming year in telemedicine, including remote surgery and health record transmissions.

The tech’s low latency shortens the communication time between a surgeon in one part of the world and a patient in another. The second capability is network slicing, which allows network operators to customize networks for a single purpose or user, reducing the potential for interference and lag.

Forty-three percent of respondents identified entertainment, sports and live event streaming as benefiting from 5G. Per the IEEE, large crowds can stress 4G cellular networks because many people start taking selfies and filming the action. 5G is better at handling large amounts of data, making for better fan experiences.

Close to nine out of 10 global technologists agree 6G will primarily be an evolving work in progress in 2024, but will be standardized in the next three to five years. In addition, a strong majority (94%) agree that development of communication satellites for mobile connectivity will bring parity to some rural and developed regions next year.

Quantum Gains

Generative AI may continue to dominate the technology landscape, but other technologies such as quantum will have significant, if less-noticed impacts.

Generative AI may continue to dominate the technology landscape, but other technologies such as quantum will have significant, if less-noticed impacts. Eighty-six percent of respondents agree, in 2024 quantum computing will gain the most attention for significantly higher computing power — a trillion times higher than that of today’s most advanced supercomputers, as well as for its application to post-quantum cryptography and cybersecurity.