It’s not terribly insightful to note that when a market starts getting hot, businesses in that industry start popping up left and right.
Nevertheless, it holds true.
This is pretty much exactly what is happening in AI.
The result is that many AI trends pop up, and some will yield lasting and important results. Others will be forgotten about as soon as they pop up.
We will illustrate this with a recent example below.
AI Pins: An Illustrative Example of a Trend That Could Go Either Way
Okay, if AI has had just one moment so far that could be called its jumping-the-shark moment, it is likely the company Humane’s announcement of its AI pin.
Have you heard of it? This writer is well-aware that the word-of-mouth advertising is well working just by the mention of it in this article. But at the same time, just seriously consider the concept.
It is basically a jacket lapel that you will attach to your clothing. People who do not know what it is will think you are wearing a body cam for some reason.
But it is not just a body cam, but really a Siri or Alexa with some flashy image-projection capabilities that will let you, for example, read the weather on the palm of your empty cupped hand, which will probably further inspire people to wonder just what you are doing with this fascinating piece of technology, exactly.
Do you like this idea? Some people will pay the $699 price, surely.
So, this is probably the crowning example of a trend that may or may not catch on. Will people ditch their smartphones for it? (Unlikely, because screens are better for consuming media than projected images on human skin.)
Will it actually catch on? This writer is happy to sit this one out and just wait and see, keeping an eye out for people holding their empty hands up and trying to line up the projector to their palm-screen.
Business owners should actively engage with this technology, as it has the potential to alter the way businesses connect with some users.
Instead of pulling out a smartphone, users will basically converse with the AI pin to find a restaurant, discount store, grocery, etc., which can make it more competitive to become the business that the pin recommends.
Disclosing the Use of Generative AI May Be Here to Stay
This writer almost hesitates to call this one of the upcoming AI trends, as President Biden’s executive order has created the possibility that all generative AI content will be watermarked in the future.
But for now, it may be a trend that many users, including companies, may voluntarily engage in across platforms.
And on some platforms, there really won’t be much of a choice. Take for instance Meta, which recently announced that political advertisements as well as advertisements dealing with housing and financial services, among other things, with content generated by AI must be disclosed to the platform.
This could become part of AI trends (with some steam behind it) if enough people rally together online to demand that businesses disclose when they use AI in their marketing content.
If transparency of using AI in business’ content becomes a sign of social responsibility, then it is likely that this trend will last so long as consumers are wary of businesses that don’t let viewers know that AI help create the ads on their social media platform of choice.
And of course it will definitely be here to stay if watermarks become legally required.
Integration of Conversational Computing AI into Search
Are people really ready for the New Bing, which functions like a hybrid chatbot and search engine?
Apparently not, because the majority of people still use Google. But that is most likely due to Google’s utterly dominant popularity.
Here is what will need to happen for people to start using AI solutions like chatbots in search: Google integrates its Bard chatbot into search and makes it publicly available.
It is not like Google has not already thought of this or is not actively testing this. It may simply be the case that Bard is just not quite ready for that integration on a public scale.
But this writer predicts that sometime in 2024, we will see some significant first steps, even just baby steps, in chatbots informing the search experience for users.
If this indeed happens in 2024, then it would be reasonable to expect that this becomes more than a trend, but more of a permanent fixture in the Internet browsing experience.
For a business owner, this could revolutionize SEO, creating a more competitive landscape where businesses will need to find out how to become recommended by chatbots.
If this is the case, we will be here for you, offering advice on how to rank well on the search engines.
