The major trends in artificial intelligence (AI) to follow in 2024

 

Artificial intelligence is everywhere. Year after year, developments are rapid, and the trend is towards accelerating the phenomenon.

All technology companies are leveraging their resources to develop ever more innovative tools to shape the Internet of tomorrow.

Marketing, data, cloud, team management in companies... Trends are emerging, and some are born while others have not yet seen the light of day. AI is moving quickly: prompting a desire to take stock of both existing technologies and those currently in development.

Where is AI today? The fields of AI accessible to the general public.

Artificial intelligence has evolved impressively to understand and generate human language. These systems, by learning from immense amounts of data, are capable of providing responses that not only make sense but are also perfectly adapted to the context.

Today, several types of AI that affect the general public are considered:

Rule-based AI: This is one of the simplest forms of AI, where the machine follows a predefined set of instructions to perform tasks. Although limited by the rules it has received, this AI is widely used in customer service applications to answer frequently asked questions, among other uses.

Recognition AI: Used in voice or image recognition, this form of AI allows, for example, smartphones to understand our voice commands or identify faces in photos. It makes our devices more intuitive and easy to use. This AI is also used in autonomous car systems.

Predictive AI: Used in product recommendations on e-commerce sites or content suggestions on streaming platforms, this AI analyzes our past behaviors to predict what might interest us in the future.

Conversational AI: These systems can engage in discussions that seem surprisingly human, with more natural and accessible virtual assistance interactions. They are increasingly present in customer service and personal assistant roles.

Machine Learning: The ChatGPT Revolution

Machine learning, particularly language models like ChatGPT, demonstrates AI's ability to understand and generate human language with astonishing accuracy. These systems learn from vast amounts of text to produce coherent and relevant responses.

Image: Generative AI in Visual Arts

In the visual sector, generative AI is revolutionizing artistic creation and design. Tools like DALL-E demonstrate AI's ability to design original images from textual descriptions, enabling artists and designers to unlock new ways to explore their creativity.

Other AIs are integrated into users' daily lives, such as photo editing applications powered by AI becoming increasingly prevalent online year after year.

Video: AI Enters the Creative Process

AI also finds its place in video production, where it assists in content creation, editing, and even the generation of realistic scenes from simple sketches. This technology promises to reduce production costs and timelines while fostering innovation.

Whether it's in automatically generated edits to trim gaps or stabilize shots, AI goes even further in avatar generation, allowing users to record and duplicate their own image without needing to film themselves multiple times. 

Information: the first AI-boosted media

Media outlets are beginning to integrate AI to automate article writing, personalize news feeds, and analyze trends. Many media organizations are starting to develop their use of AI in the service of information.

Channel 1 is a news channel fully powered by AI: journalists are avatars who develop information written by AI. Impressive right? 

Transportation: the beginnings of autonomous driving

The transportation sector is on the verge of a revolution with the development of autonomous vehicles. These systems use AI to interpret sensory data and make real-time decisions to offer safer and more efficient mobility.

Tesla is the most well-known example in this field, but other companies are developing these technologies such as Waymo or Nvidia.

Online sales: AI in the commercial domain

In online commerce, AI enhances the customer experience through personalization, product recommendation, and optimization of logistic chains. These advancements enable companies to better understand and serve their customers while optimizing their operations.

Healthcare, finance, education... How will artificial intelligence evolve in the near future?

The evolution of AI is moving towards an increase in its cognitive capabilities, aiming to process information in a more nuanced and contextual manner. Progress in deep learning is paving the way for AI systems capable of autonomously learning from vast amounts of data and adapting to new environments with unprecedented efficiency.

IoT and AI: the future of everyday objects

Intelligent interconnection: the integration of AI with the Internet of Things (IoT) enables devices not only to collect data but also to intelligently analyze it. This capability transforms how devices communicate and interact, leading to more responsive and efficient connected environments.

Innovative applications: the fusion of AI and IoT heralds revolutionary fields such as smart cities, connected homes, and industries optimized through automation and predictive analysis.

The International Data Corporation highlights the growing importance of IoT in businesses, projecting 18 billion IoT devices in enterprises by 2030.

Ethics: Towards More Control

Ethical and regulatory questions: The rapid advancement of AI raises important issues regarding privacy, data cybersecurity, and autonomy. It is urgent to establish strong ethical and regulatory frameworks to guide the development of AI and ensure its responsible use.

Principles of transparency and accountability: To build trust in AI technologies, it will be important to adopt principles of transparency, accountability, and inclusivity to ensure that AI developments are accessible and understandable to all.

Treaties and laws are beginning to emerge, towards a more ethical future in human-machine relations.

UNESCO has published a recommendation on the ethics of artificial intelligence, highlighting the importance of developing and using AI in a responsible manner, taking into account its impacts on societies, the environment, and human life.

On the other hand, the European Commission has proposed a draft regulation on AI based on a threat-based approach, distinguishing four levels of risk (unacceptable, high, limited, minimal) and implementing transparency obligations for certain categories, such as chatbots.

Agriculture: Trends Already in Development

Resource optimization: The use of AI in agriculture promises to increase the efficiency of resource utilization, such as water and energy, through precise and real-time monitoring of crop and soil conditions.

Sustainability and yield: By adopting data-driven approaches, agriculture can improve yields and promote more sustainable practices, aiming to reduce environmental impact and waste.

AI clearly plays a role in the agriculture of the future. This is exemplified by "Smart Farming" with Verdant Robotics, a Californian company that has developed an agricultural robot called SprayBox. It can identify and map plants with great precision using AI systems. This robot can treat approximately 500,000 plants per hour while drastically reducing the amount of chemicals used, down to just one-twentieth of the usual quantities.

Health: AI Startups Serving Tomorrow's Public Health

Advanced diagnosis with AI: AI enhances the speed, accuracy, and efficiency of medical image analysis, a significant step forward for early diagnosis and disease detection. An example is Cardiologs, a French startup developing AI-based software for electrocardiogram analysis.

Predictive analysis: The use of wearable technologies combined with predictive analytics provides vital information about patients' health status. TheraPanacea is another French startup excelling in the health sector with AI. It focuses on optimizing radiotherapy for cancer treatment, using AI algorithms to automate medical image contouring, a process that can take several hours for a doctor.

AI-assisted drug development: AI accelerates the drug discovery process by analyzing vast datasets for new therapeutic perspectives. Companies like Iktos, a French startup, use AI to model new molecules, speeding up the drug discovery process, which traditionally can take up to 15 years.

Education: Adaptive and Personalized Programs

Personalized learning through AI: AI-based educational tools offer personalized and adaptive learning experiences to meet the individual needs of students.

More tailored education: Education is moving towards learning tailored to the pace of each individual. With AI, these possibilities will accelerate in the future. In France, EvidenceB develops AI technology aimed at personalizing and optimizing student learning. By using self-assessment and adaptation techniques, this AI seeks to improve knowledge assimilation in key subjects such as mathematics, sciences, and languages.

Finance: More Precision and Automation

Advanced predictive analysis for risk management: AI could enable more precise and real-time assessment of financial threats, thereby improving investment and asset management strategies. In the field of financial risk management, SDG Group utilizes predictive analysis. Their approach involves using historical data and advanced statistical techniques to anticipate future outcomes.

Automation of financial processes: AI could automate tasks such as accounting, transaction analysis, and fraud detection, increasing efficiency and reducing human errors.

Energy and Environment: The Planet of Tomorrow

Optimization of renewable energy: AI could be used to predict energy production from renewable sources such as solar and wind. Metron is a company that uses AI to optimize energy consumption in industries. Their platform analyzes energy data to propose optimization scenarios.

Environmental monitoring: The use of AI to monitor and analyze environmental data could help better understand and respond to climate challenges.

What will be the underlying trends of AI in the future?

According to Gartner's study on strategic AI trends for 2024, here are some key points to highlight in order to better understand the global AI challenges of tomorrow:

More AI-powered applications

AI is increasingly being used to enhance or automate tasks in experiences and applications that adapt in real time to the user. AI-powered applications represent a trend highlighted by Gartner.

Optimizing employee skills through AI

AI helps optimize employee skills, with applications and analyses offering daily guidance.

By 2027, 25% of information systems (IS) will use these initiatives to accelerate the acquisition of key skills.

Custobots: The Arrival of Customer Robots

Gartner informs us that customer robots, or custobots, capable of autonomously purchasing goods and services, will generate billions of dollars in revenue by 2030, having a major impact on the global commercial market.

Better Threat Management and Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity through threat risk management is an area where artificial intelligence is at the forefront of ongoing technology developments. The adoption of AI to secure businesses and identify threats is helping to evolve AI challenges in general.

Near-complete democratization of generative AI

Generative AI is becoming more accessible thanks to the convergence of pre-trained models, cloud computing, and open source.

By 2026, over 80% of companies will use generative AI APIs or models versus 5% in 2023!

Change is already underway: many AI and major trends still considered anticipatory are already in our hands or on the verge of entering the AI market. The future is taking shape in the form of software and applications specifically designed to make humans' lives easier, in a healthier and more sustainable relationship with machines.