Where will the tech world be this time next year? What big developments will emerge over the coming 12 months, and what impacts will they have on how we live and work?
Of course, nobody can be sure of just what disruptive technology will capture the public’s attention, but these following developments are certainly generating serious interest.
Mainstream AI
Though it may seem strange to consider AI as not yet mainstream (after all, as an idea it’s been a mainstay of science fiction for generations), there’s still some way to go before it starts to enjoy real ubiquity. However, that could be changing very soon.
Futurist Bernard Marr says 2023 will be the year of ‘AI everywhere’, as it starts to crop up more in business chatbots, recommendation engines and process automation. The technology will soon “augment nearly every job in every business process across industries” he said, adding that people will need to get used to working alongside machines in their day-to-day roles.
Digital twins and virtual worlds
Marr has also forecast digital twins to become more widely used next year, as companies use safe virtual worlds to test otherwise hazardous developments or processes.
These virtual simulations of real-world experiences can be used in everything from healthcare to manufacturing – to not only keep workers safe but also undertake a significantly higher volume of tests than would be achievable physically (at potentially lower cost too).
Once these tests have been completed, developers can then use 3D printing technology to bring their virtual creations fully into the real world.
A quantum leap
Quantum processing has long been seen as the next great frontier of the computing world. It would see information created and stored in a whole new way: using subatomic particles. This wouldn’t just usher in an improvement on current computer processing, but take us into a whole new world – creating new processors that may be as much as three trillion times faster than even the very best we have right now.
Whilst Marr stopped short of forecasting 2023 to see a major breakthrough in quantum computing, he did note the enormous race to develop it currently happening across the world – with the UK, US, China and Russia all “pour[ing] money” into getting there first.
