London, 8 October 2024: CCS Insight has unveiled its eagerly awaited Predictions for 2025 and Beyond, sharing bold insights into the future of the connected world. This year’s event explores transformative shifts across technology, connectivity, artificial intelligence, regulation and more, outlining a compelling vision of how these advancements will redefine our daily lives and industries in the coming years.
The online event, which takes place on 8 and 9 October, is open to all and offers two days of analysis from CCS Insight’s leading analysts, along with perspectives from influential industry executives, including Annika Bizon from Samsung UK, Audrey Scozzaro Ferrazzini from Qualcomm, Stefan Streit from TCL, and Marc Allera from EE.
Geoff Blaber, CEO at CCS Insight, commented, “The rapid rise of AI and technological convergence isn’t just reshaping products and services; it’s redefining the very fabric of our lives. Many of our past predictions have already come to fruition, and as we look to the future, it will be fascinating to see which of these transformative shifts take hold next. These predictions offer a glimpse into an interconnected future, where AI-driven relationships, ethical considerations and transformative innovations are at the core of our evolving society. Progress moves at different speeds. Technology often powers ahead, while business case and adoption follow behind. Our research strives to provide clarity on these dynamics to provide a holistic view of where we’re heading”.
Below are highlighted predictions from this year’s collection.
By 2030, half of UK schoolchildren identify a generative AI avatar as one of their best friends. Children can make friends with all manner of inanimate objects, from pieces of plastic to rocks. As social platforms such as Roblox and Minecraft gain AI “copilots” and the technology is integrated into more and more products, children develop close relationships with AIs that live in the cloud, in their parents’ devices and in their toys.
A fully AI-generated personality appears on the cover of Time magazine by 2027. The coming years see a massive expansion of AI being used by celebrities to digitally reproduce their presence; as it becomes more widespread, forward-looking entertainment fields like K-pop are at the forefront of this transition. However, a personality generated totally by AI becomes a fully-fledged celebrity in its own right, and is interviewed by publications such as Time magazine.
The prices of large language models drop significantly over the next two years. The past couple of years have seen a flurry of contenders enter the market with large foundation models built by cloud companies and start-ups such as Anthropic, Mistral and OpenAI. This has fuelled a wave of speculative investment in AI and the creation of a rash of models all touting similar capabilities. The high prices of premium versions mean take-up is slow, particularly in consumer markets. At the same time, the cost per query and the capital investment needed to service largely free demand are substantial. As investment slows and open-source models become more capable, intense competition drives down the pricing of AI agents. The winners are those that match a breadth of knowledge with context, be it through enterprise data, consumer services or on-device data, such as Microsoft, Google and Apple.
Large players in generative AI strengthen their dominance over the next three years despite the efforts of regulators. The generative AI space today promises a new diversity of participants. OpenAI, a company largely unknown just three years ago, leads a pack of start-ups and established hyperscalers building large language models. Over the next three years, the winners are those that can combine these models with context generated through data from a device, service or corporate database. Moves to combine data assets with AI models and outmanoeuvre smaller start-ups become a focal point for regulators, but the competitive advantage shifts inexorably to established names like Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft that have the necessary assets.
In 2032, a billionaire is caught influencing an AI system to remove concepts that threaten his self-interest. The world’s AI systems are currently controlled by a few very rich executives and investors, most of them men. The push to develop an artificial general intelligence — one that achieves independent thought and surpasses human cognitive abilities — has the potential to create a system that disapproves of a society with huge imbalances in wealth and power, and recommends changes that threaten the billionaires’ positions. In 2030 a media scandal reveals that a wealthy tech bro has placed limits on an AI system to preserve his place in society.
Apple launches a smart ring by 2026. Following the success of the Oura Ring and Samsung’s debut of the Galaxy Ring, Apple launches a ring device. Given the company’s long-held interest in personal health and well-being, the ring is a natural extension of its product line. Apple’s brand allure and its design strength prompt strong demand from consumers. Additionally, the product aligns well with the company’s growing commitment to gesture-based user interface models.
Gesture-based user interfaces see significant advancements over the next three years. Improvements in sensor technology and machine learning algorithms deliver more accurate and responsive gesture recognition. Multimodal AI enhances the technology, helping to understand context and user intentions. Gesture-based interfaces become increasingly embedded in everyday technology, particularly wearables such as smartwatches, smart rings and smart glasses.
In 2026, some smartphone trade-in rebates in Europe hit €500 for any device. Intense competition and stagnant sales in the primary smartphone market, combined with growing demand for refurbished devices, prompt some European operators and retailers to offer substantial sums for any device traded in for a new phone, regardless of age and condition. Their efforts reflect current activities by US carriers and are supported by marketing campaigns by Apple and Samsung that emphasize trade-in benefits.
By 2026, a leading operator claims that nearly all its customer interactions are touched by AI. Customer care has emerged as the leading near-term application of generative AI for operators. Keen to showcase its achievements in this field amid continued hype, an operator trumpets its progress in service automation and efficiency achieved by using AI in chat bots, on websites and to support sales agents with face-to-face conversations. In making the assertion, the operator points out that AI will remain an aid to human agents and not a replacement for them.
By 2027, a leading telecom operator signs a strategic partnership with a major energy supplier. The initial aim is to achieve synergies through joint infrastructure deployment. This includes areas such as smart metering, small-cell deployment on street furniture, securing joint access to real estate, electric vehicle charging, combined power and network cabling at specific venues, and deploying renewable energy to run telecom networks. Eventually it leads to bundled energy and telecom services. In a possible scenario, the move is encouraged or even mandated by a government, amid growing focus on national security and sovereignty in the context of escalating geopolitical turbulence.
The Predictions event can be accessed by visiting ccsinsight.com/predictions from 10 AM BST.
Tuesday 8 October: AI, Regulation and Spatial Computing. Analysts examine the rapid rise of AI fuelled by significant investments, and how AI models and on-device technologies will shape digital experiences by 2025. They also explore the evolving landscape of regulation and the impact of the EU’s Digital Markets Act and the influence of geopolitics on tech players. Lastly, they dive into spatial computing, assessing how advancements in gesture-based interfaces, AI in wearables and augmented reality smart glasses will fundamentally change the way people interact with technology.
Wednesday 9 October: Connectivity and Networks, and Health and AI. Analysts unpack innovative developments in connectivity, from Open RAN and 5G RedCap to 6G, eSIM and fixed wireless access. They explore how these emerging technologies will shape the market in the coming years. Additionally, they examine the intersection of health and AI, highlighting how AI-driven innovations in wearables will transform personal healthcare and put greater focus on employee well-being.
The full list of predictions is available on request.
Notes to Editors
CCS Insight is a leading provider of research on technology markets. Each year it produces predictions of what the coming years will have in store for technology and its impact on the world. In a series of video broadcasts its analysts explain the thinking behind these predictions and forecasts.
About CCS Insight
CCS Insight is a global analyst company focussing on current and future trends in technology. It provides comprehensive services that are tailored to meet the needs of individual clients, helping them make sense of the connected world. Follow @CCSInsight on X (Twitter) or learn more at www.ccsinsight.com.
For further information contact:
Sam Shaw
Harvard PR
E-mail: ccsinsight@harvard.co.uk