2017 Predictions: What the industry thinks
While 2016 proved to be a solid year for incremental advancements in 5G, IoT and cloud computing, 2017 is set to be a big year for a number of breakthrough technologies.
December 23, 2016
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While 2016 proved to be a solid year for incremental advancements in 5G, IoT and cloud computing, 2017 is set to be a big year for a number of breakthrough technologies.
Figuring out what the next big thing is going to be and investing the right amount of time, money and resource can make the difference between becoming the next Google or simply being forgotten, so we took the chance to ask a few people in the industry what they thought.
While it didn’t necessarily breakthrough to the mainstream in 2016, artificial intelligence has never been too far away. Major players such as Facebook, Google, AWS and IBM have been investing heavily in AI technology, and minor product releases throughout the year have begun to normalise the technology in the eyes of the world. For Dik Vos, CEO of SQS, 2017 is year machines will start taking our jobs.
“Machines will steal more human jobs than ever with 30% of the working population needing to be retrained,” said Vos. “We will continue to see a rise in digital technology over the coming years, and 2017 will be the year we see the likes of AI and automated vehicles take the place of low-skilled workers.
“With machines pushing humans out of a number of jobs including, logistics drivers and factory workers, I predict we will see an increased emphasis placed on the retraining of up to 30 per cent of our working population. People want and need to work and 2017 will see those workers who have lost their jobs through digitalisation, start to filter across a variety of other sectors including manufacturing and labour.”
That said, there is some work before AI could be mainstream or a realistic function within the working world. Part of the reason is that there are not enough genuine use-cases (that have been proven to be currently viable) in place, though the technology isn’t quite there just yet. One major step forward would be the introduction of effective edge analytics technologies, which is where Deepu Talla, GM of Tegra at Nvidia sees the next breakthrough in 2017.
“In 2017, we’ll see more AI move from the cloud to the edge,” said Talla. “That is, we’ll see AI computing capability expand to the billions of devices that collect data in the field, rather than residing only on data center servers.
“This is important for applications where large amounts of data need to be processed in real-time, and where bandwidth and latency can be a challenge. Examples range from intelligent security systems that can identify potential dangers to keep our cities safer, to industrial robotics where predictive analytics can optimize manufacturing production.”
To continue on this ominous note, with the advancement of technology also comes the advancement of those who would abuse it. New legislation around the world pays testament to the fact police forces and intelligence agencies need to adapt to the digital era, as criminals have already begun. For Mark Noctor, VP of EMEA for Arxan Technologies, cyberterrorism is only just beginning, and its set to get a lot wore