Join the Beta Waitlisteast

Predictions for AI in 2025

Knownwell

AI Knowhow Episode 64 Summary

  • Agentic AI will dominate the conversation (and AI exploration) in the year ahead, with its potential to perform complex autonomous work
  • In the doom-and-gloom department, are career displacement and rolling blackouts going to be byproducts of the AI boom in the coming year?
  • And before you put too much stock in any of this…we look back to find out: how did David’s 2024 end-of-year predictions pan out?

With 2025 on the horizon, one of the final AI Knowhow roundtables of 2024 finds us looking ahead to the coming year and what it will hold for AI. The team also looks back at David’s four predictions for 2024 to see just how prescient his previous predictions have been.

The jury may still be out on some of David’s predictions, like that a Moore’s Law equivalent for AI will be established, but these predictions just go to show some things still take time to develop, even in the age of AI.

Is 2025 the Year the “AI Application Layer” Arrives?

One of David’s 2024 predictions that didn’t fully come to fruition for this year was that we’d begin to see the advent of the application layer of AI. Expect anticipation surrounding the AI application layer to be heightened in 2025, with expectations for its development to take significant strides forward.

Mohan Rao predicts that “Gen AI, which are mostly standalone or bolt-on tools, will now take the second half step that we missed in 2024.” He envisions a future where AI becomes an integral component of enterprise systems, enhancing the user experience and fundamentally rethinking application architecture. This advancement is anticipated to be a key theme throughout the year ahead.

Agentic AI on Deck

Mohan shines a spotlight on what will be one of the most talked-about AI advancements of 2025: Agentic AI. “There’s gonna be a lot of talk about it,” he predicted. “It won’t be fully implemented because it’s a big, big item, but it’s going to dominate the conversation.” Agentic AI, capable of performing complex tasks with a high degree of autonomy, promises to shift our understanding of the role AI can play in everyday tasks and decision-making processes.

Pete Buer and Courtney Baker also break down a recent Quartz article on agentic AI in our intro segment, including the news that OpenAI has announced its AI Agent tool, codenamed Operator, will be released in January.

Navigating Sustainability and Talent

While innovation opens new doors, it also presents fresh challenges. David DeWolf didn’t shy away from speculating on the broader impacts of AI’s evolution, positing that we might experience our “first rolling blackout due to AI energy consumption.” As AI technologies demand more from our infrastructures, this prediction emphasizes the critical need to balance progress with sustainability.

Perhaps more unsettling is the notion of AI contributing to substantial career shifts. David speculated that 2025 could herald our first “wave of career displacement,” where industries are noticeably impacted by AI’s capabilities. Mohan chimed in, acknowledging the potential for job disruption but also highlighting an opportunity for upskilling within the tech workforce: “I always say that software engineers, over a 35-year career, need to be ready for 7 major upskills,” he says. “If you have the ability to upskill, it’s gonna be a fabulous future. And this one probably counts for two upskills at once.”

Expert Interview: Dr. Andrew Abela

In an engaging and insightful interview, Pete talks with Dr. Andrew Abela, author of the new book Superhabits: The Universal System for a Successful Life and Dean of the Busch School of Business at The Catholic University of America. Andrew delves into the essence of cultivating superhabits—or habits that can significantly enhance our productivity and well-being. During the discussion, Andrew reflects on the evolving role of AI, noting, “AI may take away some of our skills, but we will gain new capabilities.”

This perspective encourages listeners to embrace change and leverage the intersection of technology and habit formation to unlock new potential and drive growth in an ever-evolving world.

Watch the Episode

Watch the full episode below, and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Listen to the Episode

You can tune in to the full episode via the Spotify embed below, and you can find AI Knowhow on Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Show Notes & Related Links

You may also like