Source: Quantum

While writing this article, I was thinking that instead of writing "what to expect", it would be easier to write "not to expect artificial intelligence in 2025"! How do you pick 5 areas for a technology that is advancing simultaneously in almost every area? To narrow it down, and hopefully make it more interesting, I decided to choose trends that are not directly related to the development of ChatGPT or its competitors. It’s safe to say that these trends will grow and these apps and the companies behind them will do their best to make these apps the solution to every possible problem.

Here are 5 artificial intelligence trends for 2025 (in no particular order):

Trend 1: Agents are everywhere

You may have heard of agent artificial intelligence (Agentic AI) the word. While AI has always been about learning patterns, AI has evolved to the following stages: (a) learning patterns from data (b) generating new content based on those patterns, and (c) taking actions based on those patterns. When these three come together, you have an artificial intelligence agent—a piece of software that can learn, create actions, and execute those actions. Expect more developments in this area in 2025.

Trend 2: Transformation of the Education System

There has been much discussion about whether artificial intelligence will encourage cheating, replace teachers, or otherwise fundamentally affect the way students learn. While all of this is critical, another force is emerging that is just as important, if not more important. This year, evidence is mounting that new graduates are unable to find jobs due to AI-driven skills and the economy. This raises questions not only about how students learn, but also about what they learn. The economic pressure brought about by the downturn in the job market will force graduates, and ultimately the institutions that train graduates, to face new demands from enterprises for employees. Students need to adapt first and improve their skills through various means, and institutions need to follow suit. I predict we will start seeing these changes in 2025.

Trend 3: Application of artificial intelligence in science

Two of the 2024 Nobel Prizes in Science will be about artificial intelligence. This should be a wake-up call: the use of artificial intelligence in science is here to stay. It’s also worth noting that while the world’s attention and imagination is focused on generative AI, billions of dollars are pouring into scientific applications of AI every day, from space exploration to medical advancements. There is new news released. It’s also worth noting that despite all this investment and progress, data suggests that drugs discovered by AI are about as successful in phase 2 clinical trials as other drugs, with the caveat that some of these drugs have already been tested in certain form of "being known". As of this writing, I haven’t seen any A.I.The resulting drug was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. What does this combination indicate? It tells us that the potential is huge but has not yet been fully realized.

Trend 4: Data Mining

Sceptics have long predicted that artificial intelligence will run out of data, while others have refuted this. What seems consistent among these predictions is not the existence of data, but the increasing difficulty of obtaining high-quality and ethical data. I predict this will be a trend in 2025. The untapped data, especially about our physical environment, remains vast. However, large language models already exploit most of the readily available data. 2025 is expected to see increased efforts, whether through commercial contracts to acquire data, labeling systems to collate untapped data, or the deployment of more sensors, etc. Coupled with the aforementioned trends in AI in science, we can imagine that efforts to mine scientific data will accelerate.

Trend 5: Robots

Artificial intelligence has made progress in all areas where problems can be solved through software (such as email, content creation, MRI analysis, etc.). In all of these areas, AI is already driving cost savings and job disruption. Robotics brings artificial intelligence into the physical realm – whether it’s manufacturing, surgery, agriculture or space exploration. The applications for combining artificial intelligence with physical automation are also almost endless. In 2025, we can expect to see existing trends in this area expand and gain wider public attention.

In summary

Over the past year, large-scale language models and generative artificial intelligence have developed rapidly and seem capable of solving any basic task. In 2015, we can expect to see the next wave arrive as deeper impacts on specific fields and institutions and integration with other technology waves come into focus.