Prediction Time: How Will Innovation Progress In 2023?

It’s time for some forecasting: how exactly will innovation develop in 2023?

In what ways will the Metaverse, deep fake technology, and standalone 5G evolve over the next year?

Why not use a virtual currency like a digital wallet? To say nothing of artificially intelligent chatbots. What will the technological trends of 2023 be?

1. Progress has yet to be made in the Metaverse.

The year 2022 in the “Metaverse” was absolutely fascinating. It was undeniably the most significant technological buzzword of the year. Attendees at February’s Mobile World Congress convention in Barcelona would have been able to tell you that. It looked like every booth was selling some sort of Metaverse-related ware.

But, by year’s end, the concept had begun to falter. We can thank Meta and Facebook for this. Yet, despite the company’s best efforts, it was unable to establish a permanent presence in the Metaverse. Poor sales of virtual reality headsets hurt the company. Its own employees don’t use the company’s Horizon Worlds business metaverse service, the company confessed. Its heavy investment in technology also sparked a backlash from the company’s shareholders.

There is little hope that the Metaverse will improve significantly in the next year. No clear definition has been established as of yet. It needs a convincing use case outside of gaming. Eventually, this will occur. There are a lot of smart individuals working on the technology, and lots of money going into research and development. By 2030, the Metaverse, according to experts, will have contributed $5 trillion to the world economy.

2. Artificial intelligence chatbots: moving beyond text to video?

Artificial intelligence has been discussed in the IT industry for decades. Less of the general populace is curious. In 2022, everything was different. Why? ChatGPT enables a generative AI bot to provide detailed text responses to any topic.

About a million people joined ChatGPT in just five days. Articles, podcasts, radio call-in shows, and more all focused on it as a topic. A common concern expressed was whether or not ChatGPT would be enough to derail Google. If students can generate complete essays using the technology, what does that entail for their academic work? What happens to imagination now that ChatGPT can compose poetry and prose?

Regular updates to ChatGPT suggest that by 2023, it will have matured and included some interesting new features. But, it isn’t the only product available. Still others are coming up with even more exciting concepts. Video created using artificial intelligence generators is one example. Envision being able to make a quick video clip by entering a few cues into a search box. Consider the ramifications of that. It’s possible that it will occur in 2023.

3. Artificial intelligence as a service: ready-made AI for a fresh economic upheaval.

AI can be viewed as mental horsepower in one metaphor. Two hundred years ago, machines took over from horses and people as the primary means of transportation and labour. The enormous advancements made possible by this are essential to our present way of life. AI does this function, but for mental tasks. AI tools’ machine learning algorithms can be taught to recognise patterns and organise data in ways that would take humans decades, if not centuries, to accomplish.

So, how do businesses seamlessly integrate new capabilities into existing procedures? Friendly AI-as-a-service technology is the answer. It will begin to spread to many other industries by 2023. It will soon be possible for every company to tap into the benefits of AI thanks to the proliferation of no-code products with intuitive drag-and-drop user interfaces. The financial services sector is a pioneer in the use of no-code AI, with applications already existing in the areas of credit risk, trading algorithms, and more.

4. Geo-digital twins: a convergence of geography and technology

The focus of the digital revolution over its 30-year history has been on data and code. Yet the introduction of smart devices has altered the story in recent years. The most brilliant minds are now considering the overlap between the digital and physical realms, and how to make ‘things’ in the actual world more productive by linking them together.

The concept of the digital twin is instructive. It is a digital model of a physical system that may be used by designers to try out hypothetical scenarios and see how well they work before being implemented. They may simulate real-world things in these simulated environments and safely subject them to stress. Digital twins are already being used by businesses to test machinery, vehicles, medical devices, and other products.

More of this “geo-digital twin” technology may become available in 2023. This integration of geography and technology will help businesses better comprehend the actual world as more 5G networks go live.

5. New energy-saving innovations thanks to green technology

Many climate change discussions centre on encouraging individuals to make behavioural shifts. Humans, according to our record, are far superior to habit change than they are to creative problem solving. Renewable energy, for instance, has seen enormous progress. Exciting breakthroughs have also occurred in the fields of green hydrogen, nuclear power, and battery technology.

Nonetheless, there is a strong push for the IT sector to green their existing goods and procedures in order to lessen their environmental impact. Opportunity for profit exists here. From $17.8 billion in 2022, the market for green technologies and sustainability is expected to expand to $60.7 billion by 2027, according to a recent analysis.

I am curious as to the state of green technology in 2023. Take the development of distributed smart power grids as an example: you can expect to see a lot of progress. The use of smart grids has the potential to drastically improve the effectiveness of the distribution of electricity, cutting down on waste and pollution in the process. The area is thriving with activity. By 2026, it’s possible that there will be as many as 250 million of these smart energy gadgets in use across the European Union.

6. Advances in quantum computing gain steam (and qubits)

It’s easy to believe that quantum computing is something that could only exist in science fiction. The’spooky’ principles of quantum physics are used in the technology to do calculations. In particular, it makes advantage of quantum superposition, which characterises how a quantum bit (qubit) can be in both the on and off states at once.

The theory may seem weird, but research is moving forward despite this. IBM introduced their Osprey quantum computer in November 2022. Its 433 qubits make it the most advanced device of its kind. The competition is fierce. Many major corporations such as Microsoft, Google, Toshiba, Honeywell, and others compete in this sector. It stands to reason. Astounding computational feats are within QC’s reach.

Although full-scale commercialization isn’t expected until 2027 (according to GlobalData), QC technology will advance at a breakneck pace that year. By the end of the year, IBM plans to release a product with support for 1,121 qubits.

7. Self-Contained 5G Networks: Expanded Deployments Realizing 5G’s Promise

In 2022, when the service was fully launched, one billion people were using 5G. Nevertheless, the reality is that most of these users do not yet have access to “genuine” 5G. They’re linking up with 5G networks that don’t operate independently, but instead make use of the infrastructure already in place for 4G connections. It’s not the same with standalone 5G. It has a central processing unit (CPU) that is virtualized and hosted in the cloud. Standalone 5G will provide the lightning-fast speeds, massive capacity, and extensive reach necessary to revolutionise current industries and pave the way for whole new ones.

The full launch of SA 5G is expected for the year 2023. 36 operators in 21 countries and territories had established public 5G SA networks in 2022, while 111 were conducting testing and partial deployments, according to the GSA. As more networks enter the market, more network slices will be created. In-house networks with low latency and high throughput will be possible for businesses thanks to this.

It’s true that 5G mobile networks are now available on a private basis, but most of these networks are managed by huge corporations with enormous CAPEX budgets. With the advent of more public 5G SA networks, even the smallest businesses will be able to investigate the possibilities of network slicing with minimal risk.

8. VR, AR, and XR: no use case yet

When can we expect the promise of extended reality (VR/AR) to be realised? Most likely not in the year 2023. While Google, Microsoft, Snapchat, and even IKEA have all experimented with augmented reality, Meta is all into virtual reality with its Oculus headsets.

Nevertheless, most attempts have either been unsuccessful or have only found limited use thus far. CCS Insight recently released a report in which it predicted the market would sell 20m gadgets in 2022, but now it predicts that number will fall to 10m.

Apple is seen as a possible catalyst for economic growth by many. Reports of an augmented reality headset from Apple have circulated for years. However, there is no evidence to suggest that this miraculous gadget will become available by 2023.

9. Cybersecurity in 2019: Old year, new dangers

The waves of cybercrime continue to hit us. It seems like there are more attacks each year. There were 847,376 reports of online crime in the United States in 2021, according to the FBI’s 2021 Internet Crime Survey. Meanwhile, the Anti-Phishing Working reported 1,025,968 attacks in Q1 2022, making it the worst quarter for phishing ever recorded.

Unhappily, attackers have millions of dollars to motivate them to develop new strategies. When 2023 rolls around, what exactly will they look like? We may see an increase in “cybercrime as a service,” an increase in “zero-day” attacks, the targeting of Internet of Things devices in shadow IT systems, perhaps the first major attack on space technology, and the development of novel EDR evasion tactics. In 2023, cybercriminals will have committed more crimes than you can imagine.

10. Are electronic wallets the first step towards data independence?

In the past, protecting personal information wasn’t a priority. Then, individuals or small groups started whining about it. Afterwards, the problem became more well known. Even major corporations like Apple started to see the financial potential of improved data privacy.

Giving people access to their own data could become a popular movement around the year 2023. The idea has been around for quite some time. Making it useful has always been the challenge. The use of electronic wallets could be a viable option. Tokens (for things like payment systems, identification, loyalty cards, and more) can be stored in digital wallets, giving users more control over the information they share with businesses. This is preferable to the alternative, in which those companies quietly collect such information, with or without the user’s knowledge.

For instance, the European Union (EU) is working to ensure that all of its citizens have access to reliable digital identity credentials that can be used freely throughout the region. It has chosen four concepts for large-scale pilot programmes.

11. Tools for detecting deep fakes: the first line of defence

It’s been almost two years since Tom Cruise horrified the TikTok community by practising his golf swing and magic tricks. For what reason the panic? This was due to the fact that he wasn’t Tom Cruise. That guy was a total phoney. The so-called ‘deep fake’ technology is based on the usage of AI to generate photo and video content that is eerily realistic. The consequences are really disturbing. And now that the tech required to make deep fakes is becoming accessible and easy to use, worry is mounting.

Nonetheless, deep fakes frequently exhibit tiny evidence of manipulation, which can be identified by specialised tools. Improved methods of detection are likely to become available in 2023.