Top 10 AI trends for 2024

Our predictions on the trends that will continue to transform our businesses this year.

AI is swiftly reshaping our business world in many ways, a phenomenon set to gain even more momentum in the near future. We present you with a brief guide to the 10 trends set to transform companies in 2024:

1. The emerging C-suite position: Chief AI Officer.

AI is already a top priority for most Fortune 500 companies and SMBs are quickly following. Executives and boards across all industries are eagerly trying to understand the implications and benefits for their particular business models. Similar to what happened with the growth and adoption of analytics and data science tools and practices, and the associated birth Chief Data Officer role, the creation of a new title for the c-suite layer around AI is imminent. We anticipate the Chief AI Officer (CAIO) role gaining popularity among large corporations in 2024 as someone responsible for leading the company’s AI strategy.

All in all, the long-term value of all these new roles remains to be seen, as evidenced by the challenges Chief Data Officers still face to strategically lead and impact global businesses.

2. AI Services evolving beyond traditional SaaS models

Tech providers in the AI space are moving away from fixed app store pricing towards dynamic, usage-based billing systems, similar to how cloud or even utility services like water or phone lines are billed. As marketplaces and tools expand, there’s a shift from standard pricing approaches to more creative methods tailored to each technology solution’s distinctive characteristics. This means businesses or users would pay according to their usage level and the type of functionalities used, allowing for an adaptable and fair pricing framework.

As a result, diverse pricing strategies and therefore innovative business models for AI services providers may arise in 2024:

• Revenue sharing (like the App Store model)
• Usage-based royalties (similar to Spotify) for developers offering AI services
• Performance-based or results-oriented pricing, where fees are tied to the outcomes delivered by the AI tool. (This approach could be particularly attractive in fields where AI’s impact is measurable, such as marketing analytics)

All this indicates a market rapidly adapting to AI’s unique challenges and opportunities. As both businesses and consumers grow more accustomed to AI’s capabilities, the demand for flexible, transparent, and value-focused pricing models is expected to grow.

3. The surge in GenAI adoption for enterprises

Generative AI (GenAI) is revolutionising creative content production by being capable of crafting text, code, scripts, music, emails, and letters. While not fully replacing human creators, GenAI notably enhances efficiency by accelerating image and text creation, rephrasing, and conducting fact and grammar checks. Its impact spans various professions and industries, offering automation, productivity boosts, cost reduction, and new opportunities.

The easy accessibility of AI content-creation tools is reshaping access to information and skills, marking it as a pivotal trend of the decade. Gartner forecasts a surge in generative AI adoption, predicting over two thirds of enterprises will integrate GenAI APIs, models, and applications by 2026, a significant increase from the current 5%.

4. Bringing Your Own Artificial Intelligence (BYOAI) into the workspace

Have you seen many of your colleagues using AI-infused tools in their day to day that you have never seen before? This growing trend is very common. Driven by the proliferation of accessible AI tools and increasing AI skills demand, Forrester reports that 60% of workers will employ their own AI for tasks.

BYOAI benefits for companies include heightened productivity, innovation, employee satisfaction, and cost reduction. However, it also introduces risks like unregulated tools used without IT department knowledge or approval which can eventually lead to data breaches, compliance issues, and other risks.

5. The Dawn of AI-Enhanced Media and Marketing Tactics

The marketing field has been undergoing a significant transformation due to the rise of AI. For instance, LLMs become more integrated into devices (with applications like Microsoft Co-Pilot, Google Bard, and the expected Apple LLM), while moving away from traditional web interfaces. This shift is changing consumer engagement patterns and altering the way people access (i.e.reducing traditional search engine usage) and receive information. In the eyes of the consumer, 2024 will bring a more integrated AI-powered, context-aware experience , where the line between online and offline interactions becomes quite blurred.

In parallel, the possibility of ad-sponsored results or media measurement tools from platforms like OpenAI could introduce both new opportunities and challenges in digital advertising.

Under this scenario, marketers need to rethink media strategies to balance the use of traditional media with the new AI-infused approaches, whilst reevaluating metrics and ROI assessment methods.

6. Incoming new Cloud & AI services providers (Nvidia)

Most companies don’t buy GPUs from Nvidia but rely on cloud service providers like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform to rent processing power or use GPU hardware on demand. This is why lately Amazon, Microsoft, and Google have been purchasing Nvidia’s chips in large quantities.

However, Nvidia faces a new challenge as these biggest clients of theirs are now turning into competitors too. Moreover, as the value of AI advancements increasingly lies in the hardware, these cloud giants are investing in producing their own AI chips, setting up a direct market rivalry with Nvidia’s GPUs. These are the reasons why Nvidia is shifting its strategy by also offering its cloud services and running data centers.

This strategic move aims to lessen its dependency on traditional cloud companies for their chips distribution and usage, and the launch of DGX Cloud in Q1 2023 was a good example. We expect that Nvidia will significantly expand this approach in 2024.

7. The rise of Open Source AI

The GenAI boom in 2023, led by proprietary models like OpenAI’s, has seen a shift towards open-source models such as GPT-J. These offer greater transparency, flexibility, customisation, and cost-effectiveness. Likewise, many open source AI libraries (see some below) will help developers and businesses understand AI and ML Technologies, as well as to seamlessly integrate them into their operations.

While proprietary models remain significant, the future is increasingly embracing open-source solutions, with Forrester noting that 85% of enterprises are expected to include open-source AI models in their technology stacks.

8. Quantum AI: Quantum Computing + AI

Quantum AI, the innovative combination of quantum computing and AI, is a field gaining rapid traction and is poised to unlock numerous opportunities for business and R&D. By 2030, the global Quantum AI market is projected to hit $1.8 billion, expanding at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 34.1%.

Quantum computers offer the immense processing power needed to train and operate sophisticated models. Conversely, AI algorithms can effectively optimise and harness the capabilities of quantum resources. It seems like a match! This collaborative relationship holds the promise of transforming various sectors, including

• Investment Banking with improved financial modeling: Quantum AI can sift through extensive financial data, detecting patterns and forecasting market trends, which enhances risk management and refines investment approaches.
• Health Industry with better drug discovery and development techniques: Leveraging quantum algorithms, researchers can streamline drug development, accelerating the discovery of new and effective medical treatments.
• Artificial General Intelligence (AGI): Quantum AI is seen as a critical component in pursuing real AGI capabilities, where devices are able to perform any intellectual and creative task that a human being can.

9. The excitement that moved away from Cryptocurrency to AI will revert back

Currently, business leaders, venture capitalists, and tech entrepreneurs are heavily but we have reasons to believe this year may bring changes.

Cryptocurrency is a sector known for its cycles and historic charts suggest another surge similar to those in 2021, 2017, and 2013. In 2024, Bitcoin’s value climbed from $15,000 to over $40,000 at the end of the year. This impressive surge of over 150% in 2023 captivated Wall Street, leading to an unprecedented request to introduce the first Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). The focus now is on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s impending decision about the approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF, which is expected on January 10th 2024. This indicates a potential major upturn in bitcoin, which could reignite widespread interest and hype in the Blockchain world.

If Cryptocurrency values surge again next year, a lot of focus will probably shift in terms of investments (Venture Capitalists), work (Tech Entrepreneurs), and labor(talent), back to Crypto.

10. Inter-connecting specialised agents

Imagine a network of specialised AI agents, each with its own field of technical expertise and purpose, working together to help executives., These AI agents will evolve from performing individual tasks like writing emails or handling customer support to being part of a system where they communicate with each other. This evolution is inherently tied to the concept of tech companies monetising data products as SaaS tools with traditional or new pricing models. You can take a look at a more technical article (paper) here.

We’re likely to see an expansion in this area by 2024, allowing companies to find higher margins and better profits thanks to relying on connected AI agents, similar to how they’ve utilised models and data sets for analysis and prediction.