Welcome to 2025! Here are the top 5 trends I predict will shape the AI industry in the coming year. Overall, we will see further AI advancements designed to help save time and increase productivity.
Automation is a good starting point for AI adoption. It can have quick wins as long as the objectives are apparent. AI will continue to sustain the increase in the adoption of automation across industries.
Organisational culture can derail AI projects in many ways. Often, the disruption is coming from a good place, so it becomes somewhat more complex to tackle. When working with AI, people can have boundless enthusiasm matched with unrealistic expectations, leading to misdirected focus that goes off in all directions simultaneously. It is heartening to work on projects where there is so much enthusiasm, as it produces lots of great ideas. The issue is when people flip to change projects as they are in flight, radically changing the purpose of the existing project. It is not, so there needs to be a defined objective, such as enabling businesses to smooth processes, reduce costs, and increase productivity.
The automation trend will solve the problem of manual, time-consuming tasks, benefitting organisations of all sizes and sectors. However, it will have an influence on your organisational culture, so it is important to have culture in mind when considering automation projects. Some people will love having automation in place because it frees up their time to do more interesting activities. However, others will feel as if they have reduced job security. Yet others may feel as if their toys are being taken away from them. These factors are complex, and they will need careful handling. This will be an article for another day!
The focus on ethical AI will intensify, driving the development of tools and frameworks to identify and mitigate biases in AI algorithms. This trend addresses the moral dilemmas and potential discrimination embedded in AI systems. The increased focus will be a good move, helping to clarify accountability and responsibility in a balance between developers, decision-makers, and customers. Organisations cannot simply cross their fingers and hope they won’t get caught doing something unethical, as the truth often comes out in the end. It is better to start with ethical principles in mind, and there are plenty of frameworks to help you to do this properly. Get in touch if you’d like to learn more about applying these frameworks to your business through my AI Mentorship program.
AI will play an important role in the energy transition to Net Zero, leveraging AI and the latest technology to deliver energy more efficiently and with climate change in mind. This trend addresses the challenges of climate change.
AI offers opportunities to help us to deal with the future impacts of climate change, as well as mop up existing damage. That said, AI data centres are thirsty for water and hungry for energy, so I anticipate that this will become more urgent as there becomes more awareness of the impact at local levels.
Key conferences to watch this year include ADIPEC, Gastech and MASDAR. ADIPEC focuses on industry areas, such as decarbonisation, digitalisation, maritime and logistics. The next ADIPEC will occur from November 3-6, 2025, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (Website / Instagram). Gastech 2025, scheduled in Milan from September 9-12, 2025, strongly emphasises decarbonisation and sustainability. Gastech 2025 will feature dedicated spaces like Gastech Hydrogen, highlighting the transformative potential of hydrogen in addressing energy transition challenges. (Website). Masdar is hosting Abu Dhabi’s World Future Energy Summit at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) from January 14-16, 2025, as part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2025 (ADSW). It is globally recognised as the world’s premier business event focused on future energy and sustainability (Website).
With the proliferation of IoT devices, AI will increasingly be integrated into edge computing to off-load some of the work to devices such as sensors. Edge Computing will meet the growing need to access real-time data processing and analysis at the network’s edge. This trend addresses the limitations of cloud-based AI by pushing some of the computation to the ‘edge’.
Edge Computing will benefit industries such as manufacturing and transportation, and I expect it to converge with the AI-driven energy transition initiatives mentioned above. It will also enable future-looking initiatives, such as smart cities.
There will be a growing emphasis on developing AI models that are transparent and interpretable. The purpose is to help businesses understand the decision process behind AI-generated decisions. This trend addresses AI’s “black box” nature, benefiting regulators, businesses, and consumers.
With increased initiatives in the energy transition and edge computing, there will be an uptick in the interest regarding how AI comes to its decisions. Transparency initiatives will be put in place more frequently as businesses want operational confidence in AI. Transparency initiatives will become more prevalent in response to Edge Computing and AI-driven energy transition initiatives.
The future of AI is undoubtedly involved, and these trends indicate the profound impact AI will have on how we innovate with ethics in mind. AI’s full potential will lift people for the betterment of society, with initiatives to combat climate change at the forefront and efforts to clean up existing damage.
Feel free to share your thoughts and insights on these predictions in the comments below, and I look forward to hearing from you. If you’d like to chat more about how to make your data and AI work or your business, book an exploratory chat time with me here. In particular, I can advise you on ethical frameworks for use from a developer and business perspective at the start of your AI journey. AI and Ethical frameworks are the topics of my MBA.
I have invested time and effort in researching and evaluating different approaches in these areas. For example, I can share my experience and expertise with you through my AI Mentoring Program. So please feel free to get in touch with me for a chat.
I look forward to hearing from you.