These are the top emerging tech for businesses beyond 2024

Generative AI (Gen AI) for visual content, Gen AI for language, TuringBots and IoT security are the top emerging technologies that will deliver the most immediate ROI for businesses in 2024 and beyond. 

Within the next two years, Gen AI for visual content will also help firms generate visual content for marketing, experiences and products. This is according to Forrester's recent report titled "The Top 10 Emerging Technologies In 2024". 

The latest versions of Gen AI image and video generation services, such as OpenAI's Sora, will also help produce rich media at break-neck speed, leading to higher levels of creative performance. According to the report, one enterprise company experimenting with a Gen AI powered content studio has observed a 70% to 90% increase in click-through rates. 

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That said, Gen AI for visual content also poses risks including distorted features, unintended likeness of public figures and legal liability from copyright infringement of training data or visual output. 

On the other hand, Gen AI for languages is already delivering value in customer support and content creation but continues to advance at a blinding pace, it said. In fact, beyond conversations, AI agent deployments are experimenting with LLMs as decision engines to plan and orchestrate actions such as deep analysis, claims processing, bill pay, and customer service.

Currently, text generation and summarisation of documents and call transcripts, unstructured-data knowledge retrieval, and sentiment analysis are emerging as the most important use cases. 

TuringBots, which are AI-powered software robots, will help developers build apps that deliver more than just code generation in the next two years.

Coder and tester TuringBots are also available, and most organisations will adopt them in a few years, added the report. Other TuringBots will take three to five more years as AI gets better and vendors accelerate implementation roadmaps.

Moving forward, TuringBots will eliminate manual tasks in the development lifecycle, making development faster, more scalable, higher quality, and more collaborative too. 

Meanwhile, the proliferation of devices has led to an exponential explosion in security attacks, raising the importance of security for IoT devices.

For most organisations, deploying IoT security solutions will deliver expected business value within a year as vendors increasingly offer capabilities as part of other cybersecurity platforms. 

Industries that blend human interaction with technology, such as healthcare or banking, will have more IoT devices than other industries, added the report. 

In addition, the report revealed that midterm emerging technologies such as AI agents, autonomous mobility, edge intelligence and quantum security will deliver benefits to firms in the next two to five years. 

Extend reality (XR) and zero trust edge (ZTE) will take at least five more years to deliver tangible value for most firms and use cases. 

“Tech leaders must be able to identify the right use cases and quantify potential benefits, costs, and risks across multiple horizons,” said Brian Hopkins, Forrester VP, emerging tech portfolio.

“They need to spread investments out, with shorter-term technologies delivering quick returns and longer-term bets requiring more effort, more foundational investment, and the capacity to manage more risk," he added. 

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