BizTech

Top 5 Emerging Technologies that Will Disrupt Industries in 2024

The pace of technological advancement never ceases to amaze. Each new year brings exciting innovations that push the boundaries of what is possible. While 2023 saw continued progress in areas like artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and blockchain, the new year 2024 promises to take certain technologies to the next level. Over the next twelve months, several emerging technologies are primed to disrupt entire industries in profound and transformative ways.

Metaverse

At the top of the list for 2024 is the metaverse – the next phase in the evolution of online connectivity. The metaverse refers to an immersive virtual world where users can interact with digital content and each other through avatars. While still in its early stages, the metaverse promises to merge physical, augmented, and virtual reality in a shared online space. It builds upon existing technologies like virtual and augmented reality but aims to create a fully-fledged digital world that is persistent, interactive, and collaborative at scale.

Several tech giants like Meta (formerly Facebook), Microsoft, and Nvidia invest heavily in developing metaverse platforms and applications. Meta alone is pouring billions into its metaverse vision called Horizon Worlds and plans to hire 10,000 new European engineers to work on it. As these platforms mature, the metaverse is poised to disrupt how we work, learn, play and socialize online.

For example, virtual and augmented reality devices will allow users to work, meet and collaborate in digital spaces that mimic physical offices. This could revolutionize the traditional workplace model and give rise to “virtual offices.” Education and training can also shift to immersive 3D classrooms and labs in the metaverse. Gaming and social media will merge into a shared virtual world. Brands are already experimenting with opening virtual stores on platforms like Roblox.

The metaverse promises to create entirely new online economies and job opportunities. Roles like metaverse architects, designers, engineers and digital land owners will emerge. To get a head start, businesses should explore how their products and services can be adapted for the metaverse. They may consider launching virtual showrooms, developing AR/VR learning modules or creating digital assets. The metaverse is undoubtedly one of the most disruptive technologies to watch in 2024.

Artificial General Intelligence

While narrow AI and machine learning are already part of our daily lives, 2024 could see meaningful progress toward artificial general intelligence (AGI) – systems that can perform any intellectual task that a human being can. AGI aims to build human-level intelligence into machines by giving them abilities like reasoning, problem-solving, learning, and using language across multiple knowledge domains.

Major tech players like OpenAI, DeepMind, and Anthropic are working on developing increasingly capable AI assistants with general conversational skills. Their systems, trained on massive language models, demonstrate an unprecedented ability to understand and respond to various questions. We may see the first AGI assistants launch for general use in 2024, which can hold natural conversations, provide information on any topic, and offer personalized advice or assistance.

AGI can potentially disrupt how we work, learn and interact massively. It could replace human labour in knowledge-based jobs like customer service, legal work, and medical diagnosis. Automated assistants may become integral to our daily lives, aiding us with tasks, decision-making, and problem-solving. AGI could also transform education by delivering personalized, adaptive learning experiences for all.

To prepare for this disruption, businesses should identify roles that involve information processing, problem-solving or customer interactions that may be automated. They may need to redesign job functions, offer retraining programs, or shift to new business areas that are not replaceable by AGI. Developing ethical AI guidelines will also be crucial as systems gain more human-level abilities. Overall, progress in AGI is one of the most profound technological changes on the horizon.

Extended Reality (XR)

Emerging Technologies Extended Reality (XR)

The lines between the physical and digital worlds will continue blurring with advancements in extended reality (XR) technologies. XR is an umbrella term encompassing virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR). It refers to real-time, interactive experiences that blend real and virtual environments.

In 2024, XR hardware will become more affordable and user-friendly due to innovations like standalone headsets requiring no external devices. 5G networks will enable low-latency, high-fidelity XR experiences on mobile devices. We will see wider consumer adoption of AR smart glasses that overlay digital content seamlessly onto the real world. Advances in computer vision, spatial mapping, and sensor technologies will make AR interactions more natural and intuitive.

XR is poised to disrupt industries ranging from healthcare to education to manufacturing. In healthcare, AR and VR systems can enable remote medical procedures, enhance training simulations, and improve the treatment of conditions like phobias and PTSD. Education stands to gain from immersive mixed-reality field trips, virtual laboratories, and interactive digital textbooks. Manufacturing and industrial processes can leverage AR for remote assistance, quality control, worker training, and more.

Businesses should explore use cases of XR across their value chains to engage customers, improve workflows, offer remote support and streamline operations. They may develop AR apps demonstrating products, VR training modules for employees or spatial computing solutions for collaboration. Preparing for XR’s disruptions involves identifying vulnerable processes, redesigning spaces to accommodate new technologies and reskilling workers on emerging tools. The transformative potential of XR makes it one of the most exciting emerging technologies to watch.

Blockchain Beyond Cryptocurrency

While blockchain is often associated with cryptocurrencies, its applications extend beyond digital money. Blockchain refers to distributed ledger technology that maintains a continuously growing list of records called blocks secured from tampering using cryptography. Its critical attributes of decentralization, transparency, security and immutability have many disruptive uses.

In 2024, blockchain will move beyond its fintech roots with innovative applications in the supply chain, healthcare, government, and arts/entertainment sectors. Supply chain transparency will be enhanced using blockchain to trace product provenance. Healthcare data management and clinical research will leverage blockchain for secure record-keeping and collaboration. New forms of digital ownership and provenance for creative works will emerge through blockchain integration.

Governments worldwide actively explore blockchain for applications like digital identity, voting, land registry, and public records. The technology could transform how citizens interact with government agencies. New blockchain-based business models will also disrupt existing industries. For example, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are cooperative entities run by programming code and blockchain.

Businesses should explore pilot projects using blockchain for traceability, document verification, digital payments, and smart contracts. Relevant roles in blockchain, like developers, governance specialists and integrators, will be in high demand. Organizations must understand blockchain’s disruptive capabilities beyond its core use case in cryptocurrency to gain a competitive edge. Its distributed, trustless nature has potential across all sectors.

Quantum Computing

Emerging Technologies Quantum Computing

While still in its infancy, quantum computing promises to revolutionize industries once viable quantum computers with more than 100 fully connected qubits are developed. Quantum computers harness the phenomena of quantum mechanics like superposition and entanglement to speed up computation massively. They can solve problems like optimization, machine learning and materials simulation exponentially faster than classical computers.

In 2024, quantum computing will transition from theoretical research to early commercial applications. Companies like IBM, Google, and Rigetti are working to build robust quantum systems and make them available over the cloud. We may see the first quantum computers that outperform the most powerful supercomputers for select tasks. Industries like automotive, aerospace, pharmaceutical and financial services will experiment with quantum applications.

Quantum computing can potentially disrupt drug discovery, materials engineering, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, etc. It could help design new catalysts, batteries and solar cells. Quantum machine learning may process vast datasets much faster than classical techniques. Quantum cryptography based on quantum phenomena could make encryption unbreakable. Simulations of chemical reactions, molecular modelling and optimization problems would also significantly boost.

Businesses should identify computationally-intensive processes that could benefit from quantum acceleration. They may collaborate with quantum computing firms on developing proofs-of-concept. Reskilling employees on quantum concepts and programming models like quantum machine learning will be necessary. Quantum computing heralds a new era of technological advancement to transform multiple industries.

Read More: What is Deepfake Technology? Everything You Need to Know

Conclusion

In summary, 2024 promises to be an exciting year for emerging technologies, with the metaverse, artificial general intelligence, extended reality, blockchain and quantum computing primed to cause widespread disruptions. Early adopters who understand these technologies’ transformative capabilities will gain competitive advantages. Businesses must identify vulnerable processes and reskill workers to prepare for changes. With prudent planning and the right strategies, organizations can harness disruption to their benefit and emerge stronger. The innovations discussed here make the upcoming year one to look forward to with great anticipation.

Ashmaad Rashid

Join Ashmaad Rashid on this extraordinary journey of words, ideas, and connection. Together, let's explore the boundless possibilities of the digital world and uncover the magic that lies within our shared humanity.

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