This is my submission for the 2025 New Year Writing challenge: Predicting 2025.
AI exploded in 2024, with ChatGPT and Claude becoming staple tools for many in my industry. Generative AI saw greater integration with existing software, supporting creatives and developers alike by it embedding itself seamlessly within existing processes.
AI is certainly here to stay, and here are my predictions on its continued evolution as we head into 2025:
Hyper-personalisation in marketing will become the norm
AI will enhance personalisation by leveraging real-time data analysis across multiple points, predictive analytics, and advanced customer segmentation to deliver highly tailored experiences.
This will allow for shopping and browsing experiences that feel tailored to you. Expect to see product recommendations that match your preferences perfectly, or discounts and promotions which appeal to your buying habits or emotional state.
This hyper-personalisation could even follow you across multiple touch-points; from online, to in-store, to at the bar.
AI will impact Sustainability Pledges
AI's environmental impact will begin to be reflected in ESG evaluations. As AI becomes even more embedded into business operations, its energy demands and resource-intensive hardware production will draw attention from sustainability accreditations, such as EcoVadis or ISO 14001.
Businesses may soon be required to disclose AI energy use and hardware sourcing (if appropriate), making partnering with green data centers even more vital.
As an example of how much power AI requires, a single response from ChatGPT comsumes approximately 0.0029 kWh of electricity - which is still 10 times the energy required for a typical Google search. By comparison, an image generated by ChatGPT can require up to 0.05kWh - an increase of 1624%!
There's nothing wrong with embracing AI as a tool, but we need to be mindful of its use and get better at prompting so we achieve our desired result as early as possible.
Greater legislation will come into effect
With the European Artificial Intelligence Act entering into force on 1st August 2024, stricter regulations and broader use-cases are inevitable.
For example, take AI influencer Aitana who has gained a lot of popularity in recent months. There are currently no regulations to prevent her from taking on brand endorsements, despite her being an AI and therefore incapable of sharing her genuine experience. You could argue that her creators are sharing their experiences through her persona, but when it comes to skincare, or sports nutrition, authenticity and safety are so important. At best it's simply unethical, at worst, it's downright dangerous.
As generative AI gets better and we begin to see more AI-generated video content, distinguishing AI from reality will become impossible. To tackle this, we must demand greater control and legislation, particularly with brand partnerships.
Top comments (7)
In the near future, I anticipate that AI will become an integral and mandatory component of development workflows. Developers will be expected to leverage AI tools and technologies extensively in their daily tasks, revolutionizing the coding process. This shift will likely render traditional low-level programming obsolete, as AI-assisted development will streamline and automate many aspects of coding.
The integration of AI in development practices will lead to increased efficiency and productivity, allowing complex projects to be completed with fewer human resources. We can expect to see a rise in high-level, conceptual programming, where developers focus more on system design and problem-solving rather than writing intricate, low level code. This transformation will not only accelerate development cycles, but also potentially reduce errors and improve overall software quality.
Furthermore, as AI becomes more sophisticated, it may even begin to handle significant portions of code generation, debugging, and optimization autonomously. This evolution could redefine the role of developers, emphasizing skills such as AI prompt engineering, system architecture, and creative problem-solving over traditional coding expertise.
AI code writing has a long way to go before it can replace developers.
The code it produces is a bit of a mess, it combines different languages for no reason, and isn't sophisticated enough to consider every use case.
It won't replace us, there's more to a developer than just someone who can produce code - like you said, we need to break down problems into actionable chunks.
Totally agree with you.
Yes, the code is a bit messy, but 60-80% is written in no time. AI is improving and learning every day. I anticipate in another 2-3 years they will produce quality code and humans just have to validate and commit.
I disagree. AI's output is only as good as its input. Non-developers don't know what to ask for, which opens AI up to misintepret the request.
Major tech firms like Microsoft are now offering
prompt engineeringcourses, recognizing the growing importance of AI in development. While some developers may be hesitant to embrace AI (including me), it's becoming clear that collaborating with AI tools will be an essential skill in the near future. Leadership teams are increasingly expecting developers to leverage AI capabilities, and there's a strong push to integrate AI as a developer's digital assistant. Adapting to this trend will be crucial for staying competitive in the evolving tech landscape.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region...