You may not have started thinking about your Christmas shopping yet, but you’ve probably thought about what artificial intelligence (AI) for business will look like in 2025. If you haven’t thought about it yet, settle in for a drink. Mulled wine, now’s your chance.
AI has advanced by leaps and bounds over the past few years and is now one of the biggest opportunities for business growth. With the ability to intelligently automate administrative tasks, take on customer service tasks, and analyze large amounts of data, the benefits are endless. But there’s still a lot of room for development, in ways that may or may not surprise you.
Stepping into the year of AI in business
Like any New Year’s resolution list, the regulatory landscape is constantly changing and adapting to the needs of technology companies. For AI development to flourish in 2025, a supportive environment must be in place. There is no denying the desire for AI. Currently, more than 120 bills related to AI have been introduced in the US Congress. These build on regulations already in place, such as EU AI legislation, and will facilitate the rapid adoption of trustworthy AI through reduced administrative burdens for SMEs and clear requirements for the use of AI.
EU AI law defines AI systems by risk assessment and categorizes them into prohibited, high-risk, limited-risk, and minimal-risk groups. This could change in 2025, with new legislation focusing on AI classification rather than risk. This approach takes into account criteria such as the intended use and fundamental characteristics of the AI system.
New laws coming into effect next year will have a major impact on how companies use AI. Data management is one area that is likely to receive significant legislative focus to ensure that AI does not compromise the security and privacy of business and customer data.
AI development – the weird and the wonderful
When new laws come into effect in 2025, companies and developers will have more freedom and security to expand the reach of AI. Many of us will already be incorporating AI into our processes, but what next?
Leading the way – Microsoft
One of the companies leading the way in AI development in 2024 is technology giant Microsoft. At the recent Ignite 2024 event, the company made several announcements demonstrating AI acceleration in 2025. For one, participants will be able to speak in their language of choice through Microsoft Teams’ new AI-powered interpretation feature. Facilitating global communication and collaboration is one of the powerful ways AI can drive business growth.
Microsoft also announced the introduction of an AI agent this year. These agents work with your employees to drive optimization and automation across your organization, a step beyond existing AI assistants. Agents can be trained to know your organization from top to bottom, and they can put together the details of your business pitch or presentation while you focus on more valuable tasks.
Cutting corners through automation
Similar to AI agents, other AI systems that rely on trigger-based automation are also expected to flourish in 2025. When a trigger is notified to the system, such as receiving an email, the system can digest the information and provide an automated response to the trigger. Automated AI is seamlessly integrated into business processes and handles administrative tasks, allowing employees at all levels of the business to spend more time with customers and focus on long-term needs.
The rise of automated AI requires a focus on responsible use. Automation means AI can be exposed to sensitive data, and if appropriate safeguards are not in place, it can learn and share that data without permission. While the law plays a key role in ensuring the responsible and ethical use of AI, business leaders also have a responsibility to ensure that AI adoption goes hand in hand with education. It is important to understand that humans are always involved and can fully observe interactions with the AI.
AI-powered systems can bring new opportunities to your business, but if they’re inaccurate, they can lose value and customer trust. The new year will see changes to how this process works, as AI systems prioritize the accuracy of the models they are trained on. Building models based on accurate and secure data is critical. The better the data, the more accurate the response. Developers can synthesize training data with large language models and then train AI systems with smaller language models.
While this allows for the accuracy of AI systems, the added complexity also introduces the risk of potential biases and erroneous activity, such as hallucinatory concepts in AI. When an AI generates information as if it is factual, even though there is no data to back it up, it is a sign that something is wrong with the training data. While 2025 will be a critical year for the development of training models, companies need to be aware of how their AI systems are being trained to avoid bias and unethical behavior.
It’s not just a new year’s resolution
The massive investment into 2025 is just one of many signs that AI is not just a temporary New Year’s resolution. Companies like OpenAI and Microsoft are taking a long-term commitment to investing in AI development. This is because we know that we have not yet unlocked all of our feature portfolio. Even if we are not benefiting from AI now, there is no doubt that we will be rich in the future. But this is not just a game for large companies; small and medium-sized enterprises will also stake their claim by adopting and investing in AI.
The next year will see advances in automation, robotics, and training data, so we’re sure to see a surge in companies considering AI if they haven’t already. To make the most of new developments, don’t wait until New Year’s Day to contact an expert today to help your business become AI-ready.
Chris Huntingford has been newly promoted to Director of AI at digital transformation provider ANS and has been named Microsoft’s 2024 UK Services Partner of the Year. Headquartered in Manchester, the company provides public and private cloud, security, business applications, low-code and data services. We have thousands of customers, from corporations to small businesses to public sector organizations.
