It's safe to say that the past few years have been extraordinary when it comes to artificial intelligence, but it 2024 may have marked the beginning of the AI era proper.
There were technological breakthroughs, innovative applications and huge financial growth.
Across the globe, AI began to embed itself in sectors ranging from healthcare and finance to entertainment and agriculture, while emerging technologies like multimodal AI and generative AI pushed boundaries.
However, this rapid growth did not come without its challenges.
From increased regulation and ethical debates, to discussions about energy consumption and hardware shortages that underscored the industry's reliance on critical resources, the AI sector had a lot of questions to answer.
Influential companies and individuals steered the conversation, making AI one of the most dynamic and transformative forces of the year.
In this week's Top 10, we at AI Magazine are reflecting on the trends of the year just passed, as well as the outlook for 2025.
10. Improved accessibility
AI programme in focus: OpenAI's GPT-4 Turbo
Company in focus: OpenAI
Industry in focus: Technology
In 2024, access to AI increased massively. OpenAI led the charge with GPT-4 Turbo, a version designed to deliver powerful capabilities at a fraction of the cost and computational demand.
Other companies quickly followed suit, creating AI solutions that could run seamlessly on smaller devices, enabling widespread adoption in underserved regions.
These advances have helped to make AI far more inclusive, empowering people in places with limited resources to use cutting-edge tech.
9. VR/AR integration
AI programme in focus: NVIDIA Omniverse
Company in focus: NVIDIA
Industry in focus: Gaming and Design
Virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) technologies have been around for a few years now, but they reached new heights in 2024, driven by AI's growing ability to create immersive experiences.
NVIDIA's Omniverse uses AI to design photorealistic virtual worlds and has begun to revolutionise the way gaming, architecture and design (amongst other things) can be done.
Enhanced interaction and real-time feedback capabilities elevated user experiences in 2024, making VR/AR more engaging and more accessible.
The integration of AI into these technologies unlocked possibilities for hyper-personalised environments, bridging the gap between physical and digital realities.
8. AI assistants
AI programme in focus: Amazon Alexa
Company in focus: Amazon
Industry in focus: Consumer Technology
AI assistants underwent some pretty remarkable transformations in 2024, becoming smarter, more intuitive and more deeply integrated into daily life than ever before.
Amazon continued to innovate with Alexa, adding capabilities like proactive task management and natural conversation. These advances make AI assistants indispensable tools, from managing homes to aiding businesses.
By seamlessly integrating with IoT devices, AI assistants became a hub for connected living, further entrenching themselves as essential companions in modern households.
2025 will likely see even more developments on this front, taking smart homes to levels previously thought unimaginable.
7. Cybercrime
AI program in focus: DarkBERT
Company in focus: Independent Research Teams
Industry in focus: Cybersecurity
As advanced AI, so did its exploitation by cybercriminals. In 2024, tools like DarkBERT—an AI trained on dark web data—highlight the double-edged nature of AI.
While developed to combat cybercrime, similar models were repurposed for malicious activities.
AI-enabled phishing and ransomware attacks grew in sophistication, posing significant threats to global security.
This trend highlighted the urgent need for robust cybersecurity measures and collaborative efforts to mitigate AI-driven risks. In 2025, we're likely to hear far more about AI's relationship with cybercrime, for better or worse.
6. Increasing regulations
Regulation in focus: EU's AI Act Compliance Tools
Organisation in focus: The European Union
Governments worldwide took significant steps in regulating AI during 2024. The European Union led the charge with the AI Act, introducing compliance tools that set a precedent for responsible AI development.
These regulations addressed ethical concerns, transparency and accountability, as well as fostering trust among consumers and stakeholders.
While some criticised the potential stifling of innovation, many viewed these measures as necessary safeguards to ethical AI deployment in an increasingly complex landscape.
“Innovation and safety can go hand in hand," said Californian senator Scott Wiener, speaking after advancing a series of regulations for large AI models in 2024.
5. GPU shortages
AI programme in focus: NVIDIA's H100 GPUs
Company in focus: NVIDIA
Industry in focus: Hardware and Technology
The explosion of AI applications in 2024 exacerbated an ongoing crisis: GPU shortages.
NVIDIA's H100 GPUs, pivotal for advanced training models, became emblematic of this issue. The skyrocketing demand strained supply chains, driving up costs and hindering smaller players in the AI space.
This trend highlighted the importance of diversifying hardware solutions and investing in alternative computing technologies to meet growing demands sustainably.
4. Multimodal AI
AI programme in focus: OpenAI's GPT-4
Company in focus: OpenAI
Industry in focus: Healthcare
Multimodal AI continued to revolutionise the field in 2024, enabling systems to process and generate content across text, image and audio modalities.
Again, OpenAI's GPT-4 stood out, offering an unprecedented ability to analyse and synthesise information from multiple inputs. This innovation found applications in industries such as education, content creation and healthcare, where it can guide targeted treatments, improve patient communication and streamline time-consuming admin tasks.
All in all, multimodal AI blurred the lines between different forms of media, creating holistic solutions to diverse challenges.
3. Ethical concerns
Framework in focus: DeepMind's Ethics Framework
Company in focus: Google DeepMind
Ethical concerns dominated AI discussions in 2024, spurred by incidents of bias, misinformation and privacy violations.
DeepMind's Ethics Framework became a reference point for developers, emphasising fairness, accountability and transparency. This focus encouraged companies to adopt similar principles, ensuring AI technologies served humanity responsibly.
The dialogue extended to societal impacts, with stakeholders advocating for inclusive development practices that prioritised equitable outcomes.
2. Sustainability
AI programming in focus: Carbon Tracker
Company in focus: Google
Industry in focus: Environmental Technology
AI's environmental impact took centre stage in 2024, with sustainability becoming a priority for developers and users alike.
AI was applied in all kinds of innovative ways to help measure emissions, forecast extreme weather events and reduce waste.
One such application was Carbon Tracker's method of recording emissions from space, which it worked on in collaboration with Google.
On the other side of the coin, the environmental impact of running AI systems became more apparent than ever before, with data centres falling under the microscope for the sheer amount of energy and water they need to run.
1. Generative AI
AI program in focus: MedPaLM 2
Company in focus: Google DeepMind
Industry in focus: Healthcare
Generative AI cemented its place as a transformative force in 2024, evolving beyond chatbots to support critical industries.
Google DeepMind's Med PaLM 2 exemplified this trend, leveraging generative AI to revolutionise healthcare diagnostics and patient care.
By synthesising massive amounts of medical data, these tools enhanced decision-making and personalised treatment plans.
The expansion of Gen AI into fields like content creation, finance and legal services showcased its versatility and potential to redefine entire industries, making it the number one trend of the year.
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