Technology trends 2023

In 2022 we marvelled at Elon Musk brands drama, watched crypto markets tank , and (some of us at least) gazed deeply into the metaverse - and yawned. 2022 had also plenty of new tech, from smart watches that can call for help if you’re in an accident to art created by artificial intelligence. In 2023, digital literacy will move from basic computer / mobile phone skills to being comfortable with advanced technologies such as generative AI or Blockchain. Knowledge of these digital tools will become essential in more aspects of life.

(GENERATIVE) AI

The AI-powered chat tool, which takes pretty much any prompt a user throws at it and produces what they want, whether code or text, was launched by the team at AI development company OpenAI on November 30; by December 5, more than one million users had tested it out. People have been using ChatGPT to run a virtual Linux machine, answer coding queries, develop business plans, write song lyrics, even pen Shakespearean verses. The chatbot is free to use so far - though OpenAI CEO Sam Altman expects that this will change in the future as he tweeted “the compute costs are eye-watering”.

I’m excited by the potential this technology has for expanding access to equitable care, yet we need to be cognisant of ingrained biases and potential harms - If ChatGPT has access to any writings (emails, social media postings, articles, whatever) by an executive in your company, a colleague, or even a friend, then it can write a phishing lure that sounds convincingly like it’s coming from that person.

TOKENIZATION AND WEB3 – POWERED BY BLOCKCHAIN

Today we are storing everything in the cloud and are putting our data in the hands of a few social media giants. The Supreme Court will decide whether social platforms can be stripped of the special legal protections they get from lawsuits over user content. Yet, if we decentralize data storage and encrypt that data using blockchain, our information will not only be safer, but we’ll have innovative ways to access and analyse it. Web 3.0 will rise as a result of the cracks in the current system. Powered by blockchain technology, this new version of the web will usher in a decentralized internet and put data ownership back in the hands of the user.

Tokenization will transform the relationship between companies and their communities. It will become the norm for companies - not just “Web3 companies” - to offer their communities of customers upside in their growth via a token issuance. Tokenization unlocks retail participation in private markets via liquidity, fractionalization, quick settlement, and transparency, which benefits both sides of the transaction. Think about tokenization of precious metals, for real estate assets, in logistics, and NFTs (Non-fungible tokens). NFTs might be the keys we use to interact with many of the digital products and services we buy, or they could represent contracts we enter into with other parties.

CYBER SECURITY

As technology continues to advance combined with more organisations going digital, cyber security threats will become more prevalent and costly. This has led to data loss, theft, fraud, ransomware attacks etc., which caused significant losses along with reputational damages. By 2023, it is estimated that cybercrime will cause $8 trillion in damages globally

And cybercriminals are increasingly adopting artificial intelligence to automate the process of finding vulnerabilities in software systems and exploiting them for financial gain. It is expected to see cyber criminals use advanced forms of AI technology, such as programs like DALL-E, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion, or AI chatbots (like ChatGPT) to boost the effectiveness of their scams.

Navigating thru economic turmoil combined with search for talents and expertise mean that companies may turn more to consultants and contractors, which can bring unintended risk of breaches to an organization’s doorstep.

To protect against these threats, it is important for organizations to invest in cyber security measures such as employee training, encryption, and regular software updates. And as application workloads continue to move into the cloud and also from cloud to the edge, real-time cloud-native Application Protection software will become a requirement to thwart the rise in sophisticated and costly attacks by cyber criminals. Last, leveraging AI and machine learning can help to detect and react to cyber threats faster and in real time, and identify fraud/minimize associated losses.

SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGY

One of the biggest challenges the world is facing right now is putting the brakes on our carbon emissions so we can tackle the climate crisis.

Look at progress from green hydrogen, solar power, wind turbines to the development of decentralized power grids. Distributed energy generation provides a system of small power generators and storage that are located in communities or individual houses.

Sustainable tech products and services being developed by startups include Patch, which helps businesses reduce their carbon footprint, Pachama, which uses AI and satellite imagery to identify reforestation projects that store carbon, and ClimateAI, a global climate resilience platform.

Many (if not most) of us are addicted to technology like our smartphones, tablets, and computers — but where are the components coming from to manufacture our favorite gadgets? People will be thinking more about where rare earth components for things like computer chips originate and how we're consuming them. We are also using cloud services like Netflix and Spotify, which still run in huge data centres that consume vast amounts of energy. We will see a continued push toward making supply chains more transparent, as consumers demand that the products and services they invest in are energy efficient and backed by more sustainable technology.