Welcome to the wonderful world of AI! Brace yourself, because developments are happening faster than ever before.
- Nuclear reactors for AI data centers?
- Spy plane over xAI server farms?
- Playable Minecraft worlds generated live by AI?
- Fully AI-generated podcast version of this blog
It sounds like science fiction, but it’s the reality of the AI arms race. Ready for my top 5 AI trends for 2025? Let’s go!
5. AI for Everyone: From Niche to Mainstream
Remember when playing with GPT-3 felt like a secret superpower? Those days are over! Early adopters had a head start for a while – streamlined processes, more time, happy customers – but those glory days are numbered.
ChatGPT is now in the top 10 most visited websites worldwide (source: Similarweb ). Generative AI has become mainstream. No longer a toy for tech nerds, but a must-have for every company that wants to compete seriously. Do you already have a custom AI chat environment?
4. Google’s Throne Is Shaking: The Search Giant Is Losing Ground
We don’t say “Google it” anymore, we say “ask AI.” Trust in Google is at an all-time low – users and publishers alike hate Google right now. People are adding “reddit” to every search query or increasingly turning to AI for instant answers, free from ads and content spam.
It seems that the search giant is struggling to adapt to the AI era. To top it all off, the US Department of Justice is considering forcing Google to sell Chrome to tackle its monopoly. Will Google be able to maintain its dominant position or will new players take over its throne? Only time will tell. One thing is for sure: 2025 will be an exciting and important year.
3. Faster, Better, Cheaper: The AI Price Drop
LLMs are the new goldmine for Big Tech. But models age faster than a tub of milk in the summer sun. Who needs GPT-4o when Claude 3.5 Opus is available with a simple dropdown? In your own AI environment, you can switch between the latest models with a few lines of code.
Always the best LLM, or you’re out. The result? Prices are plummeting, good news for us! Think of the development of cloud services such as AWS, Azure and Google Cloud. In a few years, generative AI will be the basis of almost everything we do. The provider with the best price-performance ratio, speed (tokens per second) and stability will run away with the loot.
2. Think Longer, AI! The Power of Reflection
The AI war isn’t just about the biggest models, it’s also about smart prompt engineering. And that’s increasingly being built in! Take OpenAI’s o1: with built-in Chain-of-Thought (CoT) and Reflection Prompting, it generates better answers. The model thinks and checks itself, just like you hopefully do before you say something. Complex prompts? No more!
Test-Time Compute: Take a Deep Breath and Think Step by Step!
Imagine asking an AI model for advice, but instead of immediately giving a half-baked answer, it says, “Hold on, let me think about this.” That, in a nutshell, is what test-time compute is.
So instead of overwhelming you with a flood of information, half of which is wrong, these models take a moment to formulate a considered, relevant answer. And that makes a world of difference in the quality of the output you get! Math, biology, strategy – everything is better with a little reflection. Just like real life.
Puzzling With OpenAI o1
At the last OpenAI Dev Day, Sam Altman asked who felt smarter than o1. A few hands went up. Does anyone think they are smarter than the next version, o2? No hands. Pretty self-explanatory, right?
How long have you made o1 think? My highscore:
1. AI Agents: Autonomy at its finest
AI agents are hot! No longer simple chatbots, but autonomous digital assistants that perform tasks, look up information and make decisions. They use LLMs to plan, learn and interact with the world. In 2025, the focus will be on autonomy.
The big players also see the potential, of course. Microsoft, Anthropic and OpenAI are all eager to get started:
- Microsoft: Launching ten ‘autonomous assistants’ for sales, customer service and administration starting in December 2024.
- OpenAI is set to release “Operator” in January 2025, an AI agent platform that will enable users to automate tasks like coding or booking travel.
- Anthropic introduced Claude computer use (beta), the first major commercial agentic LLM that can control your computer:
Want to learn more about the impact of AI on your business? Get in touch with the AI experts at Traffic Builders! We’re here to help you navigate this exciting new world.
