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A new report published by Gartner identifies 35 technologies to watch when considering the future of humanity, five of which are increasingly blurring the line that separates and distinguishes humans from machines. Among these, artificial intelligence and its derivatives are playing a key role by making services and products ubiquitous and always available.
According to Gartner research vice president Mike J. Walker, business and technology leaders will continue to face accelerating innovations that will profoundly impact how companies relate to their employees and partners, as well as how they offer and develop products and services for their customers. "IT managers and technology coordinators in companies must constantly scan the market for emerging technologies to identify new business opportunities with high potential for impact and strategic relevance to their businesses," he states.
It is in this context that the most extensive annual report created by Gartner cross-references industry perspectives on technologies and trends that strategists, innovation directors, entrepreneurs, and developers need to align with to plan their next steps. To this end, the research firm highlighted five technologies that demonstrate the greatest potential to dissolve the distinction between human and machine, finding in the union of these two powers a better perspective for building the future.
1. Democratization of artificial intelligence
Over the next 10 years, it is highly likely that artificial intelligence will be present everywhere. While in the early years this technology will be limited to early adopters, they will perform the initial testing and refinement necessary for AI to adapt to any situation and solve any problem as it becomes available on a massive, and therefore democratized, scale.
With the popularization of the maker movement and the positioning surrounding these groups, it is through a culture of open source and open innovation that this transition from niche to mainstream will occur, allowing AI to become a platform for services, the development of autonomous and intelligent cars and robots, conversational platforms, and digital assistants. For Walker, some of these AI applications, such as digital assistants, will become much more democratized within the next two to five years. "Other emerging technologies in this category, such as smart robots and AI-as-a-service, are also growing rapidly and approaching their peak, so we will soon have greater contact with them."
2. Digitalized Ecosystems
Emerging technologies are also being directed toward a complete shift in how we handle large amounts of data and computational processing. In this sense, it is through digitalization that new business models will be able to find and develop platforms that facilitate human-machine connection by making processes more efficient and organized.
Among the technologies mapped for this trend are blockchain and its application for information security, the replication of our online presence through a virtual twin (an AI that emulates our presence and frees us from the obligation to answer repetitive questions and commands), internet of things platforms, and graphical information visualizations. For Walker, within the next five to ten years, these virtual twins will reach their peak of popularity and democratization—much like the Portuguese social network Eter9 aims to do.
3. DIY Biohacking
Over the next decade, humans will increasingly be able to transform their bodies and minds through the use of technology—what many believe will lead us to a post-human or transhuman level. While our biology can be hacked through the lifestyle we adopt and the medical care we seek, biohacking is growing as a way to modify our bodies through technological enhancements, genome-based nutrition, experimental biology, and more extreme body modifications.
The question raised by Gartner, however, is whether society is truly prepared for this type of change and the ethical issues that come with it. Biochips and bioengineering techniques capable of creating artificial or lab-grown tissues, brain-machine interfaces, augmented and mixed reality, as well as smart fabrics are some of the possibilities of this trend that bring the user (or consumer) closer to the technology and the kits that facilitate this change through individual decision-making. For Walker, who has long studied the potential of biochip implants, this technology could reach its peak of popularity and democratization in five to 10 years.
4. Transparent and Immersive Experiences
As technological development has become increasingly aware of the need to create machines that speak our language rather than asking us to adapt to theirs (as has been the case until now), this greater focus on human needs can create greater transparency and engagement between people, companies, and things, as objects will be increasingly connected and capable of interacting with people, for example, through voice interfaces.
To this end, Gartner lists technologies such as 3D printing, connected homes, self-repairing technological systems, silicon anode batteries, smart workspaces, and volumetric displays. "The emerging technologies that represent immersive and transparent experiences are mostly already reaching their peak—especially in the case of the silicon anode battery—or crossing it," explains Walker.
5. Ubiquitous Infrastructure
Platforms and infrastructure are no longer tools reserved only for internal company procedures, but have become popularized for ordinary users through cloud computing and its various iterations, which enable digital environments that are always connected, available, and possess infinite capacity.
To support this transition, technologies such as 5G internet, carbon nanotubes, neural networks, neuromorphic hardware, and quantum computing are some examples mapped by Gartner. For the firm, these technologies will form the foundation, the infrastructure of a more connected future that is therefore accessible to everyone on a large scale.
