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2024 has truly been the year of AI. While this statement may sound like deja-vu and you may recall similar claims in 2023 and 2022, it’s no surprise that AI continues to dominate global discussions and developments. This article takes a closer look at some of the key moments, news, and breakthroughs that have shaped AI developments, deployments, and their impact on society throughout 2024. The year’s highlights listed herein are organized under three categories:
- Technological Advancements & Innovations
- AI Applications in Key Industries
- Regulation, Ethics & Governance
Let’s have a look.
Technological Breakthroughs and Innovations
2024 has been a year full of AI-related breakthroughs from its very beginning. Let’s take a tour of key moments that reflect the cutting-edge advances in AI and machine learning technologies, such as breakthrough discoveries and newly added capabilities in existing AI solutions.
In January, OpenAI launched GPT Store, which introduces a whole new level of customization for ChatGPT users by allowing them to fully personalize its functionality by exploring and leveraging custom versions of ChatGPT models for a variety of use cases: access to scholar work, icon design, text-to-video, and even designing a coloring book for children!
Shortly after, in February Google rebranded its conversational AI Bard and related initiatives as Gemini, based on the name of the new model fueling its conversational rival of ChatGPT. The move was largely motivated by the goal of attracting more user subscriptions. The rebranding entailed the integration of new multimodal capabilities in Google’s AI products, including the ability to generate multimodal outputs like text accompanied by various multimedia assets.
Fast forwarding to May, we witnessed important scientific breakthroughs in AI applied in fields like medicine. Concretely, DeepMind announced their novel approach for predicting the structure and interaction of life molecules like proteins: a significant advance to push the boundaries of medical diagnostics based on images.
From a user experience perspective, we cannot miss Claude AI’s introduction in November of customizable writing styles: Anthropic’s conversational AI solution can now adopt a variety of response styles in its underlying Claude models, which translates into offering users a new level of personalization in their interactions with the AI.
Late November also saw Microsoft in the spotlight with the presentation of Copilot enhancements: their main goal of fostering productivity and efficiency in business settings led Microsoft to incorporate deeper functionalities into commonly used suites of tools like Microsoft Office (now Microsoft 365): workplace search engines, AI-fueled themed e-mail composing, and agent-based AI to draw business insights in information stores like SharePoint, are some of the new intriguing features that Copilot recently released to the market.
Applications in Key Sectors and Industries
As AI remained unstoppable in 2024, its real-world applications also continued extending far beyond the lab, impacting sectors as disparate as automotive, music, climate, and even space exploration. Providing higher efficiency, new or enhanced capabilities, and insights into problems that were otherwise impractical, are some of the ways AI hit the headlines this year.
In March, Tesla announced an update to its Full Self-Driving (FSD) system, characterized by an increased level of autonomy and self-sufficiency in its vehicles. The breakthrough not only came along with a 1 month free trial initiative but also sparked debate and a bit of controversy with regards to the safety implications of advanced AI systems like autonomous vehicles, especially when operating in high-stakes environments like a congested motorway or extreme weather conditions.
In the spring, AI made a centerstage appearance in the music industry with the rise of Gen-AI music creation platforms like Udio and Suno albeit, rather unsurprisingly, these new tools were soon in the spotlight again for the not-so-good reason of copyright law violations. This reinforced the need to firmly regulate issues at the intersection of AI-generated content and intellectual property rights: arguably one of AI’s most pressing issues today along with personal and sensitive data protection.
By June and July, AI played a pivotal role in tackling one of humanity’s most pressing challenges: climate change. Processes like predicting climate impacts, enabling governments and environmental organizations to better plan for extreme weather events, and efficiently managing resources, were some of the highlighted sustainable practices that AI can now help address more effectively. Notwithstanding, at the other end of the spectrum there are issues like soaring emissions by big tech brands that have AI at their forefront, negatively contributing to climate change.
Finally, in recent weeks, NASA and SpaceX are hitting the headlines with their mission to have AI help plan for future missions related to Mars exploration. Machine learning and optimization of space trajectories and resource management has led AI to become a cornerstone element in research into space exploration.
Regulations, Ethics, and Governance
Regulatory and ethical concerns have intensified due to the pressing need to not stay behind rapid AI advances. Governments and industry leaders must, now more than ever, join efforts to ensure AI is developed responsibly. Some milestones of the year with regard to these joined efforts and regulatory needs are:
- In January, the launch of the Rabbit R1 at CES, a powered gadget capable of replacing the user in the interaction with mobile apps, raised concerns about AI privacy and security in consumer devices
- In September, Apple unveiled new AI features for their mobile operating system iOS 18, previously announced at WWDC 2024 conference. The new abilities to understand information and images stored in mobile devices also spurred debate on data privacy and user consent, raising concerns about how personal data are handled.
- By of the year, global AI regulatory efforts have sped up, with the European Union and other large regions beginning to draft new frameworks for ensuring compliance, transparency, accountability, and protection of human rights as AI systems continue to develop at an unprecedented pace.
Wrapping Up
2024 has most definitely been a year where AI has dominated news headlines, with major scientific advances and industry breakthroughs. From Google’s rebranding of Bard to Gemini, to GPT new models and expanded funcTionalities, including major breakthroughs in fields like medicine, AI keeps demonstrating its ever-growing potential across multiple sectors. On the other hand, this year also witnessed rising concerns around the ethical and safe use of AI, privacy issues with devices and tools that increase AI’s level of control over data, and the need for stronger regulations. Governments and organizations worldwide are also speeding up efforts to establish or reformulate frameworks that guarantee AI’s responsible development and deployment.
It remains the hope that 2025 will show a predominantly positive trend in new developments to come.
Iván Palomares Carrascosa is a leader, writer, speaker, and adviser in AI, machine learning, deep learning & LLMs. He trains and guides others in harnessing AI in the real world.