So, what does artificial intelligence hold in store for us in 2024?

Do you know who Ray Kurzweil is? He's the renowned engineer responsible for creating the first flatbed scanner, the first computer with facial recognition and the first vocal synthesis system. The reason he's being mentioned here is because he has also made 147 predictions about the development of technology and artificial intelligence, and remarkably, his accuracy rate so far has been 86%.?

He had predicted the advent of several technological advancements, such as a supercomputer that could beat the world chess champion, smartphones, connected watches, Wi-Fi, and numerous online services. However, some of his predictions have not (yet?) come true, such as human cloning, flying cars, and a biotechnology revolution.

What advancements in technology and artificial intelligence can we expect in 2024? We can rest assured that we won't accidentally encounter our clones, thanks to the laws that regulate this matter. However, it's undeniable that progress in these fields is exponential and often catches us off guard.

Generative AI: the buzzword of 2023 is likely to persist into 2024

At the heart of the possibilities we foresee for the year ahead, generative artificial intelligence will undoubtedly remain the technology to watch. We've said it many times before, but we'll repeat it because it's important: the radical change everyone's talking about is real, and it's happening as you read this. This technology will impact productivity, professional roles, and responsibilities. It will foster creative processes and shape entirely different user or customer experiences. What is clear is that, for better or for worse, generative AI will change everything.

What's more, it will become more widely available to the general public in the near future. With the creation of user-friendly interfaces, access to data, which used to be reserved for experts, is being democratized, and the trend will continue in this direction. If the figures in KPMG's recent study on the adoption of generative AI are anything to go by, it's safe to say that the percentage of workers using generative AI in the context of their professional tasks will skyrocket. Indeed, over the past six months alone, the number of Canadians using generative AI at work has increased by 16% .

The creation of videos and music using artificial intelligence is also predicted to take off. A few cases have already made headlines in 2023: the fake collaboration between Drake and The Weeknd (Heart on My Sleeve ), Angèle's made-up cover of Saiyan and David Guetta ’s live performance where he recreated Eminem's voice. Among the videos are Coca-Cola's ?Masterpiece? campaign, Virgin Voyage ’s personalized invitation message featuring Jennifer Lopez, and McDonald's and Heinz ads that spotlight ChatGPT. While this technology is still full of shortcomings (as Burger King and Kit Kat ) campaigns so clearly demonstrate) and sometimes difficult to use, we're fairly convinced that, in the hands of skilled creators, it will find exciting ways to be exploited and that we'll see its use spread!

That being said, the negative effects of generative AI, including job losses, deepfakes, misinformation and a digital divide between users and non-users, will be challenging to manage at first.

Speaking of disinformation...

On a slightly less optimistic note, we should anticipate a rise in fake accounts and blogs that consistently produce subversive or absurd content, reaching a broad audience through fabricated information, images, videos, and audio clips. Although this type of content is imperfect, it might be convincing enough to appear credible to some.

Deepfakes are already well established on the web, and most of the time, they're anecdotal. For instance, a fake Tom Hanks was seen advertising for a dentist in a video that has now been removed. These creations pave the way for developing disinformation or propaganda content on hotter topics, such as politics. Already, shocking fake images of Gaza and Israel have been circulating on the web. A fake video of Bella Hadid shows the supermodel declaring her support for Israel, even though she is of Palestinian origin.

There are concerns about potential controversies in the upcoming US elections. Election campaigns have been plagued by misinformation and manipulated images for many years. However, with the advent of deepfakes, this problem is likely to become even worse. Deepfakes are so realistic that they can easily trick many more people. For instance, in Slovakia's elections , AI-generated audio files were used to impersonate a liberal candidate just two days before the vote. This caused confusion among voters, even though the video was quickly disproved. Sadly, the candidate eventually lost the election.

The exact influence of this deepfake on electoral votes has not been calculated yet, but this case warns us that such fabricated content can have a real impact. A similar incident happened in England, where two fake audio clips were released on the internet to discredit the leader of the Labour political party , right before the beginning of one of his press conferences. The clips were viewed thousands of times on TikTok alone.

Of course, efforts are being made and will continue to be made to prevent this kind of dishonest practice, but not everything can be removed quickly enough, especially on social networks. While the networks' efforts to counter deepfakes should be increasing, strangely enough, that's not what's happening at all. According to a report by FreePress , a nonprofit organization that defends civil rights in technology and media, X, Meta and YouTube have allegedly removed 17 hate and disinformation protection policies in recent months. They have also reportedly laid off thousands of employees since 2020, some of whom were content moderators.

In this context, it is of prime importance to educate people about this fabricated and faulty content and to teach them to recognize what is true and what is false, so that they can form an informed opinion.

AI tool platforms and technology commercialization

Big AI organizations such as OpenAI will likely focus on selling their products through digital platforms. Similar to the Apple store, these platforms will provide a diverse range of AI tools catering to different applications.

With the monetization of AI applications, we could see a backlash. Indeed, ChatGPT's phenomenal popularity was due to its free accessibility. If ChatGPT were to become fully subscription-based, with no free version available, the number of users would likely decrease significantly. Its perceived value depends on the benefits we get from it, and sometimes, the additional cost may not be worth it, especially for businesses looking to cut expenses.

Lawsuits and legislation

The ethical considerations surrounding the use of AI will continue to be a highly debated topic in the year 2024. Recently, OpenAI was sued by the New York Times for allegedly violating copyright laws through the use of generative AI models that were trained on the newspaper's content. This is not an isolated case, as many other companies sued in 2023 for similar reasons. Still, most of these cases are ongoing or have been abandoned due to the difficulty of proving allegations such as using copyrighted material when companies withhold important information like the data and training methods.

It's partly for this reason that many AI-related summits are taking place around the world. Recently, there has been considerable discussion surrounding the European AI law, which is expected to become the most comprehensive regulation created and could change the way the industry works.

Nevertheless, it takes a considerable amount of time to implement laws. Despite the fact that the ethical concerns related to AI have been a topic of discussion for a while, it is unlikely that governments will enforce regulations in 2024. The effects of these significant laws are expected to take some time to manifest, and ethical changes are more likely to occur on a voluntary basis.

And what about Kurzweil?

As for our expert on technological prediction, he claims that AI will surpass human intelligence in 2029. He also foresees that humans will merge with machines by 2045. Furthermore, he predicts that by 2100, machines will have the ability to have spiritual experiences and possess their own willpower.

Can we really trust these predictions? That's a matter for debate. What is certain is that there is a gap between what is technologically possible and what is socially and economically feasible.

In either case, there's no need to worry; the engineer also predicts a positive coexistence between humans and AI. In fact, he believes that humans will improve with the help of AI, rather than being replaced by it. And we couldn't agree more!

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