Top AI Trends to Watch in 2024 and Beyond

1. Introduction

In a recent article on “The Most In-Demand Skills in 2025”, Forbes called AI knowledge and AI fluency as ‘the new form for digital literacy’. And rightfully so, considering that we are now living in a world that is involving AI, or artificial intelligence, from all sides in every practice and in every form, such as machine learning, natural language processing, deep learning and other AI development technologies. From finance to healthcare, from education to legal disputes, from entertainment to sports, AI has touched base with almost every prominent industry, which is why its current market value is at a whopping $196 billion. And if that wasn’t enough, several AI experts have predicted that this industry value will grow by 13x times more over the next few years.

This exorbitant growth doesn’t just happen by itself, however; the rise of AI to a global superpower technology is facilitated by the rapidly growing popularity of certain trends. These trends change based on the market demand and supply for the AI use cases it needs the most. Right now, according to PWC, over 73% of US companies utilize AI’s features and benefits in some capacity or the other. However, with certain AI trends gaining massive ground-level popularity, you can expect this number to go a lot higher in the coming years.

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Here are the top AI trends in 2024, 2025, and beyond, that you should be on the lookout for, to always stay updated with the latest innovations of the AI development industry:

2. Top AI Trends to Watch in 2024 and Beyond

2.1. Generative AI

Generative AI has been the most prominent contribution of AI to the world ever since its breakthrough in 2022 with the introduction of ChatGPT and its game-changing features as a large-language model (LLM). It is predicted that generative AI’s dominance over the AI market will continue to stay the same in the forthcoming years too, with other AI-powered text and image generators becoming commonly-used commodities online.

New generative AI innovations such as voice generation, most commonly notified with an audio overview feature in Google’s NotebookLM, will slowly and steadily become more relevant, with generative AI being used to accelerate business processes in multiple industries, most notably in marketing, where it dominates with a strong 73%.

2.2. Democratization of AI

Democratization of AI, or AI Democratization, refers to the fact that within a few years or so, AI-powered tools for all kinds of manual, human intelligence work will become available for public use, thereby ensuring that even those who are not well-versed with advanced technologies like AI will be able to reap its benefits on a wide scale.

AI democratization will help enhance the outreach of certain professional work such as data analysis, intelligent-decision making, and unique, original content creation, although there are challenges to be faced such as potential AI biases or personal data breaches.

2.3. Multimodal AI Softwares

There are plentiful large-language models (LLMs) that are able to process and work on only a single type of data. This is where multimodal AI softwares represent a leap forward in this technology, with advanced AI systems that are able to grasp and process information in various types and formats, such as audio, video, image, etc.

For marketing teams and enterprises, these multimodal AI softwares are basically a blessing in disguise, as they behave like a one-man-army, making it possible for a single AI tool to wear multiple hats and be able to generate content in multiple different variations and formats for different departments such as sound, art and design, text content, etc.

2.4. AI Regulation and Ethical Boundaries

No one is denying the rapid rate and force at which AI is evolving and growing and establishing its dominance in every field possible, but a question does arise from various experts: where does it all stop? After all, the Godfather of AI himself, Geoffrey Hinton (also the most recent winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics), expressed his doubts and concerns over AI surpassing and overtaking us if it’s left unchecked.

This is why AI regulation is perhaps the most important and necessary AI trend in 2024 and beyond, because we have to make sure that any paramount risks associated with AI are mitigated in favour of maintaining AI’s original purpose and intention: to work *with* humans for advancement, not against them.

Setting ethical boundaries on AI is important because if AI technology is not regulated, risks related to data manipulation, human bias in AI, and user privacy can arise to lead to greater societal issues at large. Many powerful, notable celebrities, such as Scarlett Johansson, George R.R. Martin, and others, as highlighted by TIME Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in AI, have used their platforms to take action against AI development companies breaching identity privacy and committing copyright infringement.

2.5. AI in Science, Research, and Healthcare

We’ve all heard every prominent tech figure wax lyrical about AI and its numerous use cases in improving business environments and enhancing workplace productivity. However, a particular AI use case that’s slowly gaining popularity is in the advancement of science and healthcare.

To give you an example, many researchers at Microsoft are now using AI to fight against climate change by building powerful AI-powered tools that can predict weather conditions for years to come, estimate carbon emissions in real-time with the expanding number of vehicles, and enable sustainable farming practices at a lower, more affordable cost for farmers.

Intelligent and powerful AI chatbots for healthcare are being created and deployed at a rapid pace to help medical professionals diagnose patients on a large scale. With further advancements in AI, it is predicted that these generative AI chatbots will become even more accurate in identifying ailments, particularly the ones that have not been discovered yet.

2.6. AI Agentic Systems

AI agentic systems, or just simply, AI agents, are autonomous software products created using AI development frameworks that take artificial intelligent models to the next level by making thoughtful, analytical, real-world informed decisions, planning actions, and even learning from their experiences to pursue objectives set by their human creators.

With several leading tech professionals claiming that Agentic AI is the future, and even startups worth $4 billion and more capitalizing on this technology, it is predicted that AI agents will be the next big thing in the world of artificial intelligence after generative AI, with a capability to threaten jobs of a $300 billion dollar industry because of the improvements they provide in scalability, problem-solving, adaptability, and user personalization.

2.7. Hybrid AI Development

The global AI market is filled with a vast variety of AI development models that you can choose from, most of them in the form of generative AI LLMs such as variations on ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, etc. However, the biggest drawback of these generative AI softwares is that they are based on probabilistic models of limited training data, which means that these products don’t truly “understand” human information the way AI is supposed to; they just make predictions based on the volumes of data they have been trained on.

This is where Hybrid AI development takes things forward; with a vision to combine traditional machine learning (ML) models with rapidly advancing generative AI softwares, hybrid AI development can have vast use cases in industries such as healthcare, where the ML model can handle the complex task of analyzing the various symptoms, test results, and patient history data to generate a highly-accurate diagnosis. This diagnosis can then be passed on to the generative AI tool connected with the ML model, which will be used to explain the diagnosis in easy, layman terms with important additional technical information to the patient.

Other industries, such as finance and manufacturing can also benefit from hybrid AI to leverage its flexibility and adaptability for complex real-world scenarios such as cross-border payments fraud or inventory mismanagement, where single AI models might fall short in providing a suitable solution.

3. Conclusion

Statistics predict that AI’s market size will grow by atleast 120% year-after-year, and with how much of a prominent part AI technology has started to play in our everyday lives, it won’t be a surprise at all. We are already using AI for so many things in our lives, from writing emails with ChatGPT to solving coding assignments with Google Gemini, from editing videos with Runway to creating artwork people have never seen before with MidJourney, it’s no wonder that the global AI market value is expected to be at an exorbitant $1.81 trillion by 2030.

However, it is also important that AI development is done with a certain restraint. The European Union’s AI Act released in 2023 was formally recognized as the world’s first AI law. Further AI regulation laws need to be created to ensure that user’s individual privacy details are safe and protected without any breaches.

The future of AI development is both exciting and a bit concerning. Advancements in the technology can help build a sustainable, efficient and productive future for large-scale businesses and corporations, but they can also be used for something highly dangerous and abusive. It is important for us as a community of responsible people and citizens to know when to draw the line in the sand with AI and not become overly reliant on it.

4. FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

4.1. What are the AI trends to watch in 2024 and beyond?

Key AI trends in 2024/2025 and beyond include the continued dominance of generative AI products, the rise of multimodal AI softwares that processes diverse data types (e.g., text, audio, images), AI democratization making tools widely accessible, agentic AI systems that act autonomously, AI’s growing impact in healthcare and science, and the emergence of hybrid AI development combining machine learning with generative AI for enhanced outcomes.

4.2. What makes generative AI so popular?

Generative AI products are popular because of their ability to create human-like content (text, images, audio) efficiently and their transformative impact on industries such as marketing and content creation. Their usability, speed, and continuous innovation, like voice and video generation, make generative AI tools a highly preferred choice​.

4.3. What is the future of generative AI development?

The future of generative AI development will see it becoming an even more integral part of various industries, particularly in marketing, with advancements in multimodal capabilities. It will continue to revolutionize fields like healthcare and entertainment, while also influencing business processes with highly customizable content generation.

4.4. What are AI Agentic Systems and how do they work?

AI agentic systems, or AI agents, are autonomous software tools capable of making decisions, planning, and learning to achieve goals set by their human creators. They operate independently, using real-world data to solve complex problems, making them a key technology expected to grow in significance.

4.5. Why is AI regulation important?

AI regulation is crucial to mitigate risks such as data manipulation, bias, and privacy breaches. It ensures that AI development aligns with ethical standards and maintains its role in advancing society without threatening human control or safety.

4.6. Why is AI democratization important?

AI democratization is vital because it makes AI tools accessible to a broader population, allowing more people, regardless of technical expertise, to benefit from AI advancements. It enhances creativity, decision-making, and problem-solving across industries, promoting innovation on a wider scale.