Before the year 2024 entered, various articles have emerged, projecting significant trends in the tech industry. A wide range of technologies were discussed and promised to accelerate business operations, boost employee productivity, and provide more immersive experiences. Some of these are Generative AI, Metaverse, and Green Technology, which were highly popular and made significant strides in 2023. As a result, many believed that their development will accelerate more in the start of 2024, further altering the business landscape. 

In this article, we’ll look at the projections for these technologies in 2024 and how they performed during the year. Were they just transitory trends, or have they made significant advances in their development? Let’s take an in-depth look into this article.

1. Metaverse

Metaverse was one of the top technologies anticipated to trend in 2024. As seen by its recent developments in 2023 by tech giants such as Apple and Meta, with the introduction of VisionPro headsets and Ray-Ban smart glasses, it reflected progressive advancement in the larger spectrum of metaverse development. 

At the same time, some studies suggested that as AI advances, the Metaverse will see an increase in virtual services, including AI-powered virtual assistants that improve user experiences. Furthermore, as strong identity authentication is critical to the metaverse, AI can help by analysing biometric data such as face recognition or voice patterns to precisely validate an individual’s identity.

As 2024 is coming to an end, the metaverse hype appears to have collapsed. Three years after reaching a peak in October 2021, Google searches for the term “metaverse” flattened out this year. According to one study, most individuals online did not flock to the metaverse as they haven’t yet identified a viable use case for its widespread adoption. As the lackluster nature of the initial metaverse offerings struggled to ignite enthusiasm, both investments and public interest rapidly shifted away when the emerging technology, Generative AI (GenAI), demonstrated greater engagement and, consequently, a higher potential for profit.

Will the metaverse recover in the upcoming year? Hopefully, new advancements in this technology can rekindle people’s interest and allow it to bounce back.

2. Green Technology

Green technology has grown in popularity in recent years, as more individuals and organisations recognised the importance of reducing their carbon footprint and protecting the environment. Many people foresaw significant breakthroughs in green technology this year, as advances in AI have generated talks about future improvements and efficiency. Also, this year was expected to bring advances in sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, and low-carbon construction.

Lo and behold, there have been numerous innovations that have paved the path for a cleaner, more sustainable future! The integration of AI and Machine Learning improved the decision-making processes and streamlined operations, resulting in more efficient and environmentally-friendly product management and outcomes. These technologies have also improved solar and wind energy systems as they enabled assessing real-time data, weather forecasts, and grid conditions to optimise energy generation and grid integration.

In agriculture, advancements in precision farming have emerged. Some farmers have used technologies such as drones, advanced sensors, and AI-driven algorithms to keep track of crop health, analyse soil condition, and control water management more precisely. This data-driven precision agriculture encouraged resource efficiency, thus reducing waste and decreasing the environmental impact.

3. Generative AI

Finally and above all, Generative AI is emerging as a front-runner in the trend landscape. Once ChatGPT and various text, videos, and image generators became available to the public, they were extensively utilised and embraced by business teams globally. Accompanying this was the democratisation of AI, making it accessible to everyone, even individuals lacking technical expertise. Because of this, many people anticipate that generative AI will become even more prevalent. 

For example, numerous individuals anticipated the development of multi-modal AI models, which would allow users to combine and select content using text, audio, images, and video, while also employing advanced algorithms to make predictions and generate outcomes for creating new material.

Furthermore, autonomous agents were expected to emerge as a new process to developing generative AI models. With GenAI, autonomous agents would be accessible to generate materials and make decisions without the need for human intervention. Finally, with the proliferation of GenAI worldwide, the trend of limiting any hazards related to it were crucial. Many experts advocated for rigorous regulation and ethics as data manipulation, misinformation, bias, and privacy risks can emerge, posing higher societal risks.

So, did the generative AI projections come true this year? The initial ten months of 2024 have been crucial for GenAI, featuring a number of advances that have transformed its abilities. In February 2024, Cisco introduced its first context-aware AI assistant for its security service, Panoptica, providing customised support for comprehending, prioritising, investigating, and resolving security challenges. Cisco’s AI assistant has the intelligence to become aware of one’s surroundings, including all of the data Panoptica collects on one’s posture, vulnerabilities, and attack paths.

OpenAI launched its GPT-4o in May 2024, its latest and smarter model capable of real-time reasoning and understanding across text, voice, and vision. In contrast to its predecessors, it is capable of accepting both images and text as input, which allows it to explain the humour in an image, summarise text from screenshots, and respond to users’ questions featuring diagrams. Additionally, numerous measures addressing security risks have been established this year concerning GenAI, including a revision of the AI strategy of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), aimed at bolstering its defenses against disinformation dissemination. The updated strategy also featured steps to safeguard against malicious AI use and gender-based violence, recognising these as important issues for the Alliance.

After learning about this year’s developments in Generative AI, Green Technology, and the Metaverse, what do you think we can anticipate in the upcoming year? Do you think the Metaverse can recover given that more people are interested in generative AI? What about green technologies? Will public acceptance and understanding of sustainable products become easier now that more companies are considering manufacturing them, especially among individuals who misunderstand this technology and still fight the change?

Now that generative AI is widely used not just by individuals but also by large corporations, when will error rates and avoidance of hallucination reach an acceptable level for large-scale implementations in common use cases? And as technological advancements continue to happen with GenAI, what are the key use cases that companies should prioritise and prepare for the future based on their level of involvement, whether as influencers, adopters, or creators?

Those are just a few of the questions we should think about as the new year approaches. Let’s look forward to the coming year and see if there are any substantial modifications or concerns that will be addressed. However, at the end of the day, it is more critical to remain aware and up-to-date on the latest technological trends to ensure that your organisation remains relevant and does not fall behind.