The speed of AI development is accelerating, and capabilities that were once unimaginable are now a reality. Especially AI agents—or virtual colleagues—who will work alongside us in the future and may eventually be able to perform tasks independently.
In fact, Gartner predicts that by 2028, at least 15% of daily work decisions will be made autonomously by AI agents (this proportion was 0% in 2024).
To further emphasize the potential of AI technology, the company has listed it as a top strategic technology trend for 2025. Gartner's distinguished vice president analyst Gene Alvarez said: "This is happening very, very quickly."
"No one can finish all their work before going to sleep at night; companies also need to spend a lot of time monitoring things. Creating AI agents can not only replace part of the work and assist companies in detection but also improve work efficiency and save time."
What other predictions does Gartner have for future strategic technologies? Here are some trends discussed by the company at the Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo2024 conference.
AI agents evoke 'mixed feelings'
Alvarez explained: "The primary role of AI agents is to solve tedious tasks that consume human time and energy. The next level is AI agents that can autonomously monitor and manage systems."
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"AI agents possess the ability to plan, perceive, and take action, allowing them to analyze, repair, and report on what is happening, rather than just existing as surveillance systems."
"In more complex scenarios, agents could one day help enhance employee skills. For example, situations where new employees had to learn from human colleagues can now be guided by AI colleagues."
Alvarez acknowledged that all of this is both exciting and concerning, as the fear of unemployment still exists.
"However, if AI agents can truly teach me a new set of skills, I can transition from a job I am about to lose to a needed job."
Building trust in AI
Alvarez then pointed out the next major trend: "There is now a completely new workforce; how do we manage them?"
Based on management topics, a series of AI governance platforms will emerge, enabling companies to manage the legal, ethical, and operational performance of their AI systems.
New tools will create, manage, and implement policies to ensure the transparency of AI. These platforms can also check whether AI assistants exhibit biases and provide information for building models.
Alvarez anticipates that these tools will ultimately become part of the AI creation process to ensure ethics and governance are embedded in the model from the start.
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Alvarez stated: "We can create trust through transparency; if people lose trust in artificial intelligence, they will not use it anymore."
"Not just a computing model"
Alvarez pointed out that seven computing models are currently in use: CPU, GPU, edge computing, application-specific integrated circuits, neuromorphic systems, classical quantum computing, and optical computing.
Alvarez stated: "We have always had a mindset of continuously adapting to changes, but the future hybrid computing model will combine different computing, storage, and networking mechanisms for operation. Coordinating software will transfer computing from one method to another based on the task and the best-fit approach for the task."
"Meanwhile, new, more specialized computing technologies will significantly reduce energy consumption. This is very important as the pressure to reduce consumption and carbon footprints is increasing. However, the demand for AI's computational capabilities is also growing at an astonishing rate."
"Incremental improvements are not enough; businesses need long-term solutions. Companies also need new technologies, such as green cloud service providers or more efficient new algorithms, which could increase efficiency by thousands, even tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of times."
Proactively addressing information security issues
AI allows some "threat actors" to spread misinformation more quickly and easily. They can push deepfake information, create phishing emails, exploit vulnerabilities in collaborative tools, use malware for eavesdropping, launch account attacks, and more.
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Therefore, responding to this misinformation and protecting information security becomes crucial, requiring proactive assessment of authenticity, tracking the spread of harmful information, and preventing counterfeit information from appearing.
Its elements include brand impersonation scanning, third-party content assessment, claims and identity verification, phishing mitigation, account takeover prevention, social/media monitoring, dark web monitoring, and emotional manipulation.
Alvarez explained that deepfake detection will also be able to identify synthetic media, and watermarking tools will help ensure users interact with real people.
According to Gartner's predictions, by 2028, half of companies will start adopting products, services, or features specifically designed for information security against false information, while currently, this proportion is less than 5%.
Alvarez stated: "Information security against false information will not just be a single technology; it will be a series of technologies."
Preparing security for the 'post-quantum era'
Currently, the internet uses public key encryption technology, which is asymmetric encryption that ensures secure communication between two points.
Alvarez explained that "this encryption is difficult to crack because the cracking time is too long. However, quantum technology is advancing rapidly, and it will play a role at some point because it has the mathematical capability to crack instantly."
Gartner predicts that by 2029, advancements in quantum computing will render most traditional asymmetric encryption methods insecure.
Alvarez added: "Organizations must now prepare for post-quantum encryption technology to ensure their data can withstand decryption. Transitioning encryption methods is not easy, and this is 'not a simple patch.'"
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The established standards of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are a good starting point. Alvarez noted that the agency will release the second edition of post-quantum encryption guidelines in spring 2025.
"What do you do when all the locks break? You need new locks. We need to ensure our security is updated before quantum technology becomes a reality."
AI enhances our cognitive abilities
Gartner is further looking towards the sci-fi industry, predicting that the use of bidirectional brain-machine interfaces (BBMI) will increase, as these interfaces can read and decode brain activities, enhancing human cognitive abilities.
Alvarez explained that these devices could be directly integrated into our brains or achieved through wearable devices like glasses or headbands.
Gartner predicts that by 2030, 30% of knowledge workers will use technologies like BBMI to remain competitive in an AI-driven work environment (this proportion was less than 1% in 2024).
Alvarez stated: "I see the potential for enhancing human skills and the next generation of marketing, for example, brands will be able to understand consumers' thoughts and feelings, thereby assessing consumers' emotions."
Alvarez ultimately compared it with the 2011 movie (Limitless) and the AppleTV series (Life After Life).
Alvarez stated: "Fairly speaking, both works do not portray this technology in a wholly positive light, but they enhance people's cognitive abilities by accessing the human brain."
[Disclaimer] The market is risky; investment requires caution. This article does not constitute investment advice, and users should consider whether any opinions, viewpoints, or conclusions in this article align with their specific situation. Investing based on this is at one's own risk.
This article is reproduced with permission from: (Foresight News)
Original author: VentureBeat
