In the two years since TechInformed first launched, the enterprise tech world has changed quite a bit. We’ve seen the last traces of the global pandemic fade away, the backlash against remote working, the rise (and stalling) of the metaverse, and the collapse of cryptocurrency, just to name a few events. And that was just 2022.
2023 has been no different, but there is one technology trend that has stood far above all of the others. 2023 was the year that AI took over — figuratively (at least for now!)
A year of AI
ChatGPT’s public launch at the end of 2022 was rightly treated like a big deal, but it was impossible to predict just how transformational wider access to generative AI would be. Yet here we are, a year on, looking ahead to 2024 and almost all of our prediction’s articles — which we will begin to publish from next week — mention artificial intelligence in some shape.
Back in late 2020, when TechInformed was just a twinkle in my eye, I met with our CEO Yogesh Shah at the offices of our parent company (iResearch Services) in London to finalise our plans, and Yogesh, showing keen insight, asked how I’d feel about regularly publishing articles written by an AI tool. I was, to say the least, sceptical, and we haven’t so far, but fast forward a few years and AI is increasingly filling in for day-to-day tasks at enterprises across the world.
It should come as no surprise when I tell you that our most read article in 2023 was one about ChatGPT. Way back in January, we revealed that OpenAI was set to release ChatGPT’s as an API, allowing businesses to incorporate the artificial intelligence service into their programs and applications.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT
In March, the US-based firm released both ChatGPT and Whisper for developers, hastening the rate of adoption. Since then, it seems like a new example of AI-powered usage is revealed every week.
I am fully expecting this to continue into 2024, too, especially with Google’s Bard/ Gemini now offering competition to ChatGPT, alongside Elon Musk’s Grok.
A year of war
Understanding geopolitics is always crucial to understanding technological trends, and this year has been one where, sadly, warfare has dominated global discourse.
Coming in to 2023, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was well underway, although much of the fighting had cooled off due to a mixture of cold weather and entrenched positions.
But the impact of the war could be seen everywhere — from rising inflation, which was being blamed in part on oil and gas shortages, to supply chain disruption, that was a major headache for tech vendors and enterprises alike. And that’s not even mentioning the saddest and most horrific impact — the cost on human life.
To mark a year since the fighting kicked off, we looked at the role technology was playing in the Ukraine/ Russia war.
Cyber warfare has been a key part of the strategy deployed by Russia in its illegal invasion, and Ukraine in its counteroffensive. Microsoft identified and named as “FoxBlade” as one tool trojan horse tool deployed by the Russians in the early stages of the war, to take down Ukrainian communications networks.
As the most internet-accessible war in history, the conflict has also involved social media and propaganda. Russia has monitored user data and social media posts as a way of controlling occupied territories, while Ukrainians have used social networks to share information about potential attacks and aid.
Drones have also played a key part in this war in a way not seen before. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are being used by both sides for reconnaissance and surveillance, while the Ukrainian military has also used drones to target enemy positions with precision-guided munitions.
Technology has also played a key part in the war in Gaza. Following the horrific terror attacks by Hamas, the Israeli government instantly cut all communications and internet access in the Gaza Strip, with Palestinian residents left with more than 48 hours without communications.
Social media continues to play a key role in reporting on Israeli missile strikes and military action in Gaza, despite a reduction in services.
A year of openness
Every year, journalists at TechInformed travel all over the world to meet business executives, experience technology in action, and to attend tech conferences, and 2023 was no different. My first major tech show of the year was Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, back in February.
I have been to more MWC’s than I can count, and the event hasn’t changed that much since I went along to my first one a decade ago — it still feels like a giant show, full of bright lights and busyness. Even some of the lines trotted out by executives are similar — how this generation of connectivity will change our lives, how everything will be connected, and even people talking about rich communication services (RCS).
But this year, the keynote at MWC was slightly different, because the telecoms companies opted to do something they haven’t been known for traditionally — opening up. During a presentation by the GSMA, which runs MWC, the telcos unveiled a new API framework which hopes to transform the way the telecoms industry designs and delivers services in a software-based API-based economy.
The move will allow developers to access and use a variety of mobile network services like location or identity verification and carrier billing, in a simpler, more cost-effective way, and reflects another big triumph of 2023 — technological openness.
MWC Barcelona
We also caught the same vibe from discussions around AI, where firms like OpenAI offered up the algorithms for its chatbot ChatGPT to allow developers to get involved in creating new and innovative solutions underpinned by GenAI.
As Forbes wrote back in May, in 2023 APIs have became “business critical”. In 2024, this trend will likely continue.
This ties into the wider picture across enterprise tech — we are finally seeing much more of the connected world we’ve long been promised.
A few other standouts
Healthtech — 2023 has been a standout year for tech developments in the healthcare industry. AI and more advanced chatbots are showing early signs of transforming diagnosis, while digital twins — such as the mapping of a digital heart — are helping to improve training and surgery. Robotics is making treatments much easier, while data analytics tools are making development of new treatments far easier.
Agri-tech — Some of TechInformed’s best loved stories in were about farming. Whether it is use of connected devices to help manage dairy cows, the way digital twins are helping food-growers map out new solutions, or the deployment of drones to treat fields, the farm of 2023 is much more advanced than most people realise.