The 2024 Accenture Technology Vision Report focuses on the idea that AI will unlock the next phase of human potential, as emerging technologies become more human-like. A remarkable 95% of executives agree that making technology more human will greatly expand industry opportunities. The report starts by giving examples of high-impact technologies, pointing out that generative AI is reshaping organizations and markets. With more human technology comes ethical questions, which need answers before progress can be made. 93% of executives agree that as technology rapidly advances, it is vital for organizations to innovate with purpose.
The relationship between humans and technology is at a turning point, according to Accenture, and it’s time to intentionally make technology human. The main message is that when technology is more human, it is more accessible. “Human by design” is not only about describing features, but also a requirement for what comes next. Human technology will become central to the success of enterprise digital efforts as companies begin to see the potential of emerging technologies to reinvent digital pillars. Digital experiences, data and analytics, and products will change as generative AI and spatial computing technologies mature and scale.
The Technology Vision Report 2024 identifies four key trends: the way we think, act, feel, and understand one another. One trend is “A Match Made in AI: Reshaping our relationship with knowledge,” which explores how generative AI chatbots are transforming search and software, and how coding practices and knowledge work could change in the future. Another trend, “Meet My Agent: Ecosystems for AI,” looks at the potential for AI agents to work together and for AI to become a major component of business ecosystems.
The spatial computing landscape is expanding rapidly. “The Space We Need: Creating value in new realities” highlights the emergence of a new spatial computing medium and its capabilities in bridging the digital-physical divide. “Our Bodies Electronic: A new human interface” discusses a suite of technologies that are starting to understand people more deeply in human-centric ways.
The first two trends, “A Match Made in AI” and “Meet My Agent,” are focused on how data is changing and how interactions with data and technology are evolving. Enterprises are encouraged to innovate with purpose and reimagine their approaches to data for the next generation of data-driven businesses. Data silos can be harmful, and generative AI can help break them down. The report also examines large language models (LLMs) as a new data interface and outlines different options for businesses to explore in utilizing LLMs. Retrieval augmented generation (RAG) is a popular approach for grounding pre-trained LLMs, taking less time and expertise than other methods.
