Startling Predictions Point to New AI Expectations

The start of a new year heralds prognosticators and educated guesses about what to expect in terms of trends, but in the realm of AI tech, analysts have been weighing in for several weeks now.

So when Fast Company magazine interviewed its AI insiders, it would be expected to have a similar, vague outcome. That was not the case. Some authorities went off the beaten path of predictions, especially when it came to how AI advances will lead to major market changes by 2020 and beyond.

Synthetic Media

Peter Rojas, a partner at Betaworks Ventures, predicted a mash-up of human-generated media better edited and improved by AI editors, both in terms of images and news articles generated by AI “avatars.”

Consumer Adoption of AR Glasses & 5G

Tech experts have been predicting this for years and some believe the technology has reached a consumer acceptable level, but Avi Greengart, Research Director of Consumer Devices for GlobalData, said that he believes it still won’t happen for a few more years. He also is skeptical that 5G will make it by this year, but maybe by 2020.

“Whether we’ll all be driving around staring at holograms inside 5G cars, I’m skeptical about that in the short term, but in the long term that’s something I’m sure we’ll see.”

New User Controls for AR/VR

Timoni West, Director of XR Research, Unity Technologies says we probably won’t have AR or VR that consumers will adopt in 2019. Advances in the HoloLens controller could make it happen, however. Greg Sullivan, Director of Communications, Mixed Reality, Microsoft, agrees that this could finally be the year HoloLens takes off.

The Microsoft HoloLens, predicted to have a new version released this year, might make AR more popular.

Startups Built on Voice Platforms

This will succeed beyond asking for music or the weather, according to M.G. Siegler, General Partner, Google Ventures. He’s looking for properties to invest in.

On the Role of AI in Healthcare

Two heavyweights believe that healthcare will finally benefit from AI in 2019. Vic Gundotra, CEO, Alivecor, said that AI data will explode in measuring devices that push consumers to measure heart rate, do glucose monitoring and track blood pressure. As a result, doctors will need AI to parse the data. Bob Kocher, Partner in Venrock, said AI will gain traction in helping payers and providers cut administrative costs, using big datasets of better quality.

Flying Cars

We still won’t see them in 2019, but the groundwork is being laid for 2020, according to Carl Esposito, President of Electronic Solutions, Honeywell Aerospace. Yeah, yeah, we’ll believe it when we see it.

Past stories with such predictions have had mixed results, as seen in this 2018 Fast Company article, but many predictions with two or more advocates tended to come to fruition by the end of the year.