Throughout 2023, artificial intelligence (AI) has significantly transformed various sectors of the economy. But when it comes to the consumer perception of this technology, there has not yet been a revolution. There has yet to be an AI-based application or device that would revolutionize the world in the same way as, for example, the iPhone. ChatGPT, despite its 100 million users, is still largely a niche story for the advanced crowd.
Nevertheless, AI has already shown that it can handle various routine tasks, from text generation to product visualization and many others, and this quality is growing rapidly. There are now a huge number of AI-based work tools emerging that help professionals from different fields automate their routine tasks and reduce costs.
Digital Currencies of States, Tokenization, and Cross-Platformization
Three major trends can be identified in this market.
The first is digital currencies, which are issued not by private issuers but by governments. Today, they have been fully launched in only 11 countries, 10 of which are small Caribbean states. But in 2024, South Korea, Singapore, Brazil, China, Thailand, and the U.A.E. are expected to launch pilot state digital currency platforms.
The second trend is the binding of more and more goods and services to tokens. A token is a unique record in the blockchain, a digital database that reflects all transactions made. Tokens can be linked to real estate ownership documents, certificates of membership in organizations, bonds, shipments of goods that move from one country to another, and many more. This trend can be very convenient, but so far, the development of related solutions is being hindered by weak token security and the instrument’s low popularity. From 2024 to 2025, however, a qualitative breakthrough may occur.
The third trend is the development of tools that help conveniently transfer assets from one blockchain to another. One of the main problems in this area is the huge number of platforms with different rules. What the world needs is the implementation of unified standards for the whole industry, which often happens with some delay. In 2024, such fundamentally important decisions may emerge.
Virtual Opinion Leaders
Another emerging trend is photorealistic digital people created with the help of AI. So-called “virtual influencers” in the form of “digital persons in photos in social networks” have existed for quite a long time. But now, the possibilities are expanding dramatically, and the cost of creating them is falling.
Many sellers on Chinese marketplaces are using virtual humans for sales streams today. Such AI characters talk about a product and can even respond to questions during the broadcast chat. At the same time, the cost of creating a virtual character starts at just US$1,000. The trend has not yet reached the Western market, but perhaps as early as 2024, we will see the first virtual streamers, newscasters, and advertising characters.
Multimodality, Security, and Copyright issues
In 2024, solutions that can conveniently use several types of AI at once will rise. GPT-4 Vision, which works with text and visual information, already has such an option. In the near future, models that can work with multiple types of information will emerge.
The issue of safety in using generative AI will become acute—the scandal with the dismissal and return of Sam Altman to OpenAI has shaken the industry. Rumor has it that the reason for the firing was precisely the disagreement within the company about what was more important—making money or paying more attention to security. Officials will closely monitor the development of the technology, as evidenced by the recent executive order of the White House that obliges developers to disclose information about the results of AI model tests.
Copyright issues in using AI aren’t going anywhere either. The problem is particularly acute in the music industry. AI has become so good at synthesizing artists’ voices that a fake track by Drake and The Weeknd was nominated for a Grammy. Services like YouTube are trying to negotiate with artists so users can legally clone their voices. 2024 will also show whether Hollywood will be able to use generative AI after months of strikes by actors and screenwriters.
