Technology and AI Trends Taking Place In Q3 2024
One of the things I always try following for this blog is the latest technology trends. I host my own podcast focused on customer experience (CX) and I started focusing on this area because it’s where most new technologies are tested first — the interface between companies and their customers.
Natural Language Processing, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Cloud computing, Robotic Process Automation… I could go on. Over the years I found that all these emerging technologies were being used first in CX so I naturally got more involved in analyzing this area of business.
IBA Group is involved at the cutting edge of delivering most of these technologies. I will never forget going to visit their head office just before the pandemic arrived and seeing the data center that supported cloud storage clients. It’s one thing to read about these new technologies and another to see them up close and in action.
Technology magazine featured some analysis of the top technology trends in 2024 recently, but their predictions were underpinned by a leading business executive supporting each of the ideas – rather than it just being a collection of what a technology journalist likes to write about.
Some of the trends or technologies I liked from this list include:
Zero Trust Technology
Networks used to be largely protected by firewalls. People using business systems were inside a secure office environment. None of this is true today. Business information is being accessed remotely on various devices by people working from home or while they are on the move. This requires a much stronger type of security where all access is challenged, but at the same time it must be possible for valid employees to do their job.
I thought of this recently when I was robbed on the street in São Paulo. I was concerned that the thieves would use my face to unlock my phone and access my banking apps. Biometrics seem secure until you are unconscious on the street and being robbed. Fortunately I remembered that even if a thief gains access to my banking apps, they cannot transfer anything without additional passwords – zero trust.
AI using more energy
This is becoming a real concern. ChatGPT alone is using enough energy to power around 180,000 American homes. At what point does our desire to keep on improving AI run up against the problem of this energy use just no longer being sustainable – or affordable?
LLMs will more often be using guardrails
This is an important development. One of the key problems with generative AI, that was quickly noticed by many people, is the possibility of a hallucination when the AI is not 100% sure of the correct answer.
In a situation like a customer asking a question about how to configure a new product for the first time, there is no need for a large language model to have all the data of a ChatGPT system. If you are helping a customer set up their Smart TV then the system will never be asked to explain the American Civil War… all this knowledge is useless.
Reducing the data that the LLM is trained on and focusing only on the required business solutions not only reduces the risk of hallucination, but it becomes cheaper to train and manage – the guardrails are helpful rather than restrictive.
These are just a few of the important tech trends mentioned in the article, but I think it is clear that there is a closer and closer link between technology developments and how businesses can respond with new services. As it becomes easier for companies to consider different advanced tech, they are able to focus on new products and services with greater clarity.
For examples of IBA projects and client success stories, please click here. Follow IBA Group on LinkedIn for regular updates and comment.