Can AI be a force for good in 2024?
16 January 2024
2023 was the year artificial intelligence transitioned from a technical niche to mainstream fascination.
Technologies like ChatGPT brought AI to the masses, eliciting varied emotional responses from enthusiasm to concern. Is AI a force for good? What future developments can we expect from AI tools? 2024 is likely to be the year we find out – here are four predictions of where I believe AI is heading.
AI that saves energy, money and protects infrastructure
AI holds immense potential to address societal challenges in the UK and around the world. We can expect to see many more examples of AI being developed to benefit the public and society. We will see many more solutions that help us respond to natural disasters, floods and drought. Technologies to improve our food security, to help people save money and spend smarter, and to enable better management of our national infrastructure will become increasingly mainstream.
2024 will see ten teams of innovators compete to win the inaugural £1 million Manchester Prize by developing new AI technologies designed specifically to benefit society. The teams will be awarded £100k and we can expect to see new AI technologies coming to the fore related to our energy needs, supporting the environment and improving how we look after our national infrastructure.
AI will play a greater role in advancing scientific discoveries
New technologies have always impacted the advancement of scientific discoveries. This is no different with AI. Recently the power of AI was on display as Google DeepMind researchers discovered 2.2 million crystal structures, which will open the door to progress in renewable energy and advanced computation.
This huge feat has also sparked a significant expansion in the knowledge and understanding of the materials available for us to use in engineering and scientific research. In regard to scientific research, it’s the innovation sprouting from machine learning algorithms that has led to the discovery of new antibiotics.
The ability for AI to identify new, more efficient, more sustainable, materials far surpasses traditional approaches. Consumers may not see these benefits in the next 12-months, but it will certainly be playing a role in the research and development of new products that will make their way to market in the near future.
AI is being deployed by teams competing for the Longitude Prize on Dementia, including smart glasses that can tell someone who they are speaking with.
Assistive technologies for an ageing population
The adaptive nature of AI holds great promise for people with neuro-degenerative conditions like dementia. To date, many dementia technologies have been in the form of monitoring sensors. While these have been valuable for carers and loved ones to keep track of the person with dementia, they’ve not been designed for that person to use themselves.
AI is being deployed by teams competing for the Longitude Prize on Dementia – funded by Alzheimer’s Society and Innovate UK. They are developing a new generation of technologies designed to be used by the person living with dementia to help them keep doing the things in life that bring them fulfilment. They include smart glasses that can tell someone who they are speaking with, and music therapy that responds to a user’s biorhythms when they lose their language abilities to switch songs and genres.
AI enables the technologies to adapt to each user’s unique condition as it deteriorates to help the person maintain their independence for as long as possible. We can expect five finalists to be announced this summer.
AI will need to respond to concerns around data security
The recent surge in the use of large language models like ChatGPT underscores the profound impact that generative AI is having on our technological landscape.
More and more services that we interact with will embed AI into their offerings – and more and more, we will interact with AI when we deal with those services.
While AI undoubtedly offers benefits for businesses and organisations in how they provide services to customers and users, there remains significant concern about data security and privacy across the general population.
AI developers that can demonstrate how their technology respects data privacy and robustly secures user data are likely to succeed over those that don’t. Expect to see new platforms competing on which is the most secure.
