Sometimes I look at the image below, generated more than a year ago with Midjourney, and am just baffled as to where we are already as we near the closure of 2024. What an exciting year regarding (gen)AI!
So, what’s been happening in the last, let’s say, 6 months? What is currently going on, and where will we go within the next 6 months? I checked McKinsey and the BCG among others. Sources in the comments – here’s what they think:
Top 3 Generative AI Trends (Last 6 Months)
1. Massive Investment Growth
- VC funding reached $3.9 billion in Q3 2024 across 206 deals
- Enterprise adoption doubled, with 65% of organizations now regularly using generative AI
2. Multimodal AI Evolution
- Expansion from text-only to combined numeric data, text, images, and video capabilities
- Context windows in LLMs increased dramatically from 100,000 to two million tokens
3. Enterprise Integration
- Widespread integration into business software tools
- Focus on practical applications like customer-facing chatbots, ad campaigns, and drug discovery
Current Top-of-Mind Issues for AI Professionals
1. Risk Management
- Inaccuracy emerged as the primary concern, with 44% of organizations experiencing negative consequences
- Growing focus on data governance and regulatory compliance
2. Infrastructure Challenges
- Computing power limitations and resource requirements
- Data integration and governance processes
3. AGI Development
- Increasing focus on Artificial General Intelligence as the next frontier
- Emphasis on developing human-like reasoning and decision-making capabilities
Forward-Looking Trends (Next 6 Months)
1. Industry Transformation
- 75% of professionals predict significant or disruptive industry changes
- Continued acceleration in adoption rates across sectors
2. Investment Focus
- 67% of organizations plan to increase AI investments over the next three years
- Particular emphasis on enterprise-scale solutions and infrastructure
3. Regulatory Environment
- Growing emphasis on AI governance and ethical frameworks
- Increased focus on developing concrete action plans for AI regulations