5 Tech Trends for 2018: What to expect?
2017 is still quite fresh in our memory, but let’s not waste any time. It’s time to start looking forward. What does 2018 have in store for us in terms of technological trends?
1. Artificial Intelligence
In 2017 Artificial Intelligence already took center stage in many debates. Just look at the beef between tech Billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, who both have pretty strong opinions on the subject.
AI will without a doubt change the way we work, it will most likely take over many of the menial tasks such as cashiers, and bookkeepers. This won’t be an overnight process and will take a while. In the coming year, however, we will see more AI permeating into our work. Take a look at healthcare for example. AI will be able to detect and diagnose common diseases much faster than humans ever will, which leaves more room for doctors to focus on interpreting diagnoses and developing unique treatment plans for each patient. AI will let us focus on that part of the job that is most important.
There have been some instances of potentially horrific scenarios, such as the Facebook AI that created its own language that was impossible for humans to understand. With this increased attention to the downside of AI, it will also be audited and regulated more closely.
2. Internet of Things
The stellar popularity and growth of IoT doesn’t seem to be slowing down in 2018. If anything it’s set to increase. Many industries have already adopted IoT as a key feature in their processes. Think of smart warehouses, where large chunks of the picking and packaging process are robotized.
IoT has the ability to gather massive amounts of data, which is simply too much for humans to be able to process. Therefore IoT will most likely see an increase in convergence with AI. Combining these technologies, companies can perform more specific analyses of their IoT data streams, leading to more powerful decision-making. With this increase in data gathered via IoT, security questions will come up. Ensuring that all of this data will be safe, will be one of the main concerns for 2018.
3. Chatbots
People (I’m using myself as a benchmark here) are growing sick and tired of service- and call -centers. Just getting in touch with your telephone provider can be such a hassle, having to wait in the queue can take ages. And when you’re finally patched through the person on the other side of the phone, they don’t seem to have an answer to your problem.
This is where chatbots come in. Instead of waiting in line you can just talk to a bot, they often have an answer to your question or a solution for your problem. However, they are (not yet) 100% foolproof and should be considered a good co-pilot, who can help steer the plane when there are no significant issues. The large majority of chatbots will be integrated into the Facebook Messenger service. An interesting trend, that we’re already seeing but that’s bound to become more prevalent in 2018 is selling via Facebook Messenger.
4. UX/UI overhaul
The way we interact with our machines has been changing drastically over the last couple of years. I still remember the time when I had to actually rotary dial phone numbers. We then went a form of texting where you had to press the 7 on your keypad 4 times to get the letter S. Nowadays we can just talk to our machines, we often don’t have to touch them anymore. Just think of voice-controlled assistants like Google Home, and Alexa. They change the way we ask for directions or order food.
With the rise of the no-home-button phones also come new challenges, which challenges designers to think differently about the user experience.
5. Augmented reality
Augmented reality is stepping out of VR’s shadow, the Magic Leap One is set to make an appearance in 2018, but is it really better than Microsoft’s HoloLens? To be honest, these headsets look kind of bulky, and you wouldn’t wear them in day-to-day life. Your phone, however, is a different story. Some very cool AR apps already exist on your phone. Just take a look at how you can furnish your room with the awesome ‘Ikea Place’ app. Really very cool
It seems like in 2018 Augmented Reality will move out of its experimental phase, as businesses start seeing real-world applications.
