Gartner: Democratised AI commonplace in decade, blockchain maturing

NEWSBYTE ‘Democratised AI’ will be one of the major trends to shape the future technology landscape, according to new report from analyst firm, Gartner.

Gartner’s latest Hype Cycle research, which draws together insights on over 2,000 technologies, suggests that AI will be “virtually everywhere” within the next 10 years, but – significantly – it will be open to the masses, rather than being the sole, expensive preserve of large enterprises.

A range of factors will contribute to the emergence of mass-market AI, including cloud platforms, open-source projects, and the maker community, eventually “propelling AI into everyone’s hands”, according to the company.

Gartner’s research also says that AI-based Platform as a Service (PaaS) solutions, conversational AI, and deep neural networks are set to become enterprise technology staples, alongside mobile robots and driverless vehicles.

“Technologies representing democratised AI populate three out of five sections on the Hype Cycle, and some of them, such as deep neural nets and virtual assistants, will reach mainstream adoption in the next two to five years,” said Gartner research VP, Mike Walker.

“Other emerging technologies of that category, such as smart robots or AI PaaS, are also moving rapidly through the Hype Cycle, approaching the peak, and will soon have crossed it.”

Also on Gartner’s radar are blockchain, digital twin technologies, IoT platforms, and knowledge graphs. “Blockchain and IoT platforms have crossed the peak by now, and we believe that they will reach maturity in the next five to 10 years, with digital twins and knowledge graphs on their heels.”

Overall, Gartner predicts an increase in human-centric technologies, including 3D-printing, connected home devices, edge computing AI, and self-healing systems.

But as all these technologies become more widely available, biohacking – via technology augmentation, nutrigenomics, experimental biology, and so-called grinder biohacking – will begin to make transhumanism a reality, claims Gartner, while immersive experiences and ubiquitous infrastructure technologies will also become more and more popular.

Internet of Business says

As technology becomes increasingly personal and available to all, it stands to reason that the boundaries between human and machine will begin to blur, and between human beings and what some might see as an improved version of themselves at genetic level. An exciting, but also troubling time in terms of the ethical and moral dimensions.

Chris Middleton: Chris Middleton is former editor of Internet of Business, and now a key contributor to the title. He specialises in robotics, AI, the IoT, blockchain, and technology strategy. He is also former editor of Computing, Computer Business Review, and Professional Outsourcing, among others, and is a contributing editor to Diginomica, Computing, and Hack & Craft News. Over the years, he has also written for Computer Weekly, The Guardian, The Times, PC World, I-CIO, V3, The Inquirer, and Blockchain News, among many others. He is an acknowledged robotics expert who has appeared on BBC TV and radio, ITN, and Talk Radio, and is probably the only tech journalist in the UK to own a number of humanoid robots, which he hires out to events, exhibitions, universities, and schools. Chris has also chaired conferences on robotics, AI, IoT investment, digital marketing, blockchain, and space technologies, and has spoken at numerous other events.
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