Happy Holidays and Season’s Greetings. We find ourselves in that time of year again – snow shoveling, gift wrapping, overeating, gathering with family, and looking both ways before we cross the busy road of technology trends.
Looking left, back at 2023, we see one of the most dramatic changes in the technology ecosystem ever, with the emergence of Generative AI. AI has been around for decades – I first heard about coding for AI with a still obscure language called LISP in 1979. But the team of ChatGPT, OpenAI and Microsoft changed everything this year. We had board-level soap operas, strikes in Hollywood, and daily articles in the Wall Street Journal, all driven by the fact that anyone could now ask their web browser to write a 900-word essay on the importance of Keynesian economic policy to the emergence of the interstate highway system.
Looking right, ahead to 2024, we should expect the roller coaster ride to continue. Microsoft has provided AI to the masses via Copilot in Microsoft 365, which I expect will unleash a tidal wave of new creativity and better Power Point presentations for all. But the more pragmatic among us will continue a steady effort to advance simple automation to prediction automation and more productive enterprise operations. The pace will quicken, and some will integrate generative AI with AI automation to create innovation.