10 Key AI Trends That Will Reshape in 2025: From Augmented Reality to Real-Time … (+)
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There’s no doubt that artificial intelligence (AI) will remain the most talked-about technology in 2025. From conference rooms to classrooms, hospitals to homes, AI will become increasingly woven into the fabric of our lives.
As AI’s influence grows, so does the urgency of addressing ethical questions about its impact on people and society. Many questions remain unanswered, such as how AI will affect jobs, whether it will replace human creativity, and what the increasing need to collect personal data to feed algorithms means for privacy in the digital age.
2025 may be the year we start to answer some of these questions — and maybe even bring about some more incredible breakthroughs that seemed impossible just a few years ago. So, below we’ve compiled a list of what we think will be the hottest topics and talking points in AI and automation over the next 12 months.
Expansion work
In 2024, nearly every major software tool rushed to integrate generative AI capabilities. No one wanted to miss out. In 2025, we predict we will see more careful consideration of how humans can work with AI to improve their technical capabilities while saving time to apply their creativity and interpersonal skills to tasks that machines can’t yet handle. This will be how smart companies start to create real value from AI next year, rather than simply adding chatbots to everything.
Real-time automated decision making
As companies begin to tackle the challenge of strategically leveraging AI, those with more mature AI strategies will move toward end-to-end automation of entire business processes. This will happen in all areas, from logistics to customer support to marketing, where algorithms will decide how to manage inventory, how to respond to customer inquiries, and more, with minimal human intervention. This will increase efficiency and enable faster responses to changing customer habits and market conditions.
Responsible AI
In 2025, there is growing awareness of the importance of developing and deploying AI in a way that is ethical, safe, transparent, trustworthy, and respects intellectual property rights. This is driven in part by legislation (more on this later), but there is also growing awareness of the harm that can be caused by irresponsible use of AI. Many of us are aware of the dangers of bias and illusions in AI, and understand that mitigating this will require a concerted effort. Companies that ignore this or cut corners in 2025 should prepare themselves for bad publicity, pressure from regulators, and missed savings from customers.
Generative Video
Imagine typing in a movie synopsis or a short snippet of video and watching it come to life before your eyes. Think of it as ChatGPT for video. OpenAI did a proof-of-concept with their Sora model this year, but it could be available as soon as 2025. While we don’t see anyone producing movies from prompts to rival Disney’s right now, this is a fascinating glimpse into where generative AI is headed and what it could achieve in the near future.
The next generation of voice assistants
AI voice assistants (such as Siri and Alexa) have been part of our lives for years now, but their conversational capabilities have traditionally been quite limited. This year, OpenAI demonstrated ChatGPT’s new “interruptible” advanced voice mode, which is capable of surprisingly human-like conversations. And Google has already started integrating its Gemini chatbot into mobile devices, replacing the now-outdated “Hey Google” feature. In 2025, I expect to see these features on more and more devices, enabling more natural and convenient voice-to-voice communication.
AI Law and Regulation
It’s fair to say that governments and lawmakers have struggled with the challenge of regulating AI so far. This year, the EU and China passed laws that seek to limit AI’s potential to cause harm. Measures include criminalizing uses such as creating deepfakes and regulating its use in sectors such as finance and law enforcement. In 2025, we can expect to see more regulations that prioritize human rights and focus on mitigating the potential for discrimination and disinformation.
Autonomous AI Agents
Most AI tools in use today work on the basic principle of performing simple tasks, such as generating text or interpreting data to make predictions. AI agents are tools that can act without being given precise instructions, chain together many tasks, and adjust their behavior based on the results they achieve. This can be seen as an important step towards achieving “general-purpose” AI that can be applied to many different types of tasks. However, it also raises complex questions regarding the need for oversight and accountability of AI.
Navigating a Post-Truth World
Dealing with the proliferation of fake content and fake news that can now be produced thanks to AI will be a major challenge for society as a whole in 2025. There have already been attempts at election interference on a global scale this year. Some say this means we have reached a “post-truth” era, where we can no longer trust what we see with our own eyes. In 2025, I expect society to start adapting to meet this challenge. This change will be driven by governments through legislation (such as China’s AI law, which makes it illegal to create deep fakes of real people), but also by education and at the grassroots level, where we learn to be more critical of the information we are presented with.
Quantum AI
Though still in its early stages, quantum computing has the potential to revolutionize AI by harnessing the strange properties exhibited by atomic-scale matter to perform certain computational tasks at unprecedented speeds. By allowing algorithms to run hundreds of millions of times faster than standard computers, it won’t just make AI faster; it will enable entirely new tasks to be tackled, opening up new possibilities in a variety of fields, from developing vaccines and medicines to creating new materials and energy sources. Expect excitement about this incredible potential to start building in 2025.
AI in Cybersecurity and Defense
Cyberattacks will continue to become more frequent and sophisticated in 2025, meaning AI systems will become even more important in detecting potential breaches, identifying anomalies, and automating cybersecurity systems to address threats before they cause significant damage. But it’s not just the unseen, behind-the-scenes algorithms that matter. With threats increasingly coming in the form of phishing and social engineering attacks, chatbots will play a role by simulating phishing attacks and teaching us how to spot and avoid attempts to trick us into becoming victims.
Sustainable AI
This is two-fold. First, there is growing awareness of the massive power consumption of cloud-based AI systems, and I believe we will begin to see concerted efforts to switch to sustainable, renewable energy sources in data centers. Second, there is huge potential for AI applications designed to improve sustainability and reduce the environmental footprint of other industries. From algorithms minimizing water and pesticide use in agriculture to more efficiently routing traffic around cities to reduce pollution from automobile exhaust, in 2025 we will see AI continue to establish itself as a powerful tool for environmental protection.
