5 technology trends to watch in 2023

With a new year upon us, it’s worth looking forward to what we can expect during 2023. The world of technology continues to move fast and the impacts of a rapid pace of innovation are significant for an increasing number of industries.

Increased adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML)

In 2022, OpenAI’s Dall-E and ChatGPT products allowed people to see real-world use cases for AI. While the industry continues to develop, only with consumer-facing applications people can actually use, will the general public understand its value.

ChatGPT in particular made a big impact with its ability to surface detailed answers to queries, not only answering questions but actually providing you with usable content. In 2022, many experimented with its capabilities as a bit of fun, but others are looking at this technology in 2023 and beyond as a new way to accelerate workflows.

If you work in IT and need to write Powershell scripts to perform common Administrator tasks, ChatGPT is your friend. If you are into fitness and need help planning meals for the week, ChatGPT is your friend. If you need help writing a resume, ChatGPT is your friend. If you’re a scriptwriter and need new ideas, ChatGPT is your friend.

This really is a revolution in search and perhaps the first serious threat to Google in years. Right now, ChatGPT is restricted to just text, but it’s easy to see a path forward where text is expanded to images (Dall-E2).

There are also plenty of third-party AI services popping up, some of which are beginning to focus on the challenge of creating social media content, all in an effort to save you time.

It’s likely that 2023 becomes the first year where we see serious revenue being derived from services built on AI.

The rise of the humanoid robot

Robots have been in 2023 will change dramatically. Many of us have robot vacuum cleaners in our homes now, and some of us have robot lawnmowers, but in 2023 we will see the rise of humanoid robots. Led by the Tesla Bot, the competition in this space for humanoid robots that are applied to the workplace will start to get interesting.

We’ve seen Boston Dynamics work on this problem for more than a decade, but a combination of an economic depression with challenges in recruiting employees, particularly in dangerous, repetitive roles, the rise of humanoid robots will advance significantly this year.

While it may be a number of years before we’re able to buy one to assist us at home, robots will find their first serious applications in factories and create some very interesting discussions about the future of jobs.

The continued growth of the Internet of Things (IoT)

Smart lighting is one thing, but IoT is really just getting started. We’re heading to a world where there are serious advantages of having devices in the real world, connected and reporting data. In some contexts, it also makes sense for these to have remote command and control capability, however, this does come with obvious security challenges.

Think of a typical vending machine. Historically, you’d have to have a user report that the machine stopped taking money, or was out of product, or alternatively, have someone physically attend the site to review its status. That may work if you run one vending machine, but for larger operators that manage hundreds, then you’ll want remote monitoring of stock levels, payment issues etc.

Advances in 5G technology

5G is now in many smartphones, not just flagships anymore, but mid and even lower-tier phones are getting support for faster mobile networking. What hasn’t really changed is the connectivity available in our other devices.

In 2023, expect far more devices like laptops that feature mobile connectivity, to offer 5G support. Having fast speeds on a mobile device is great, particularly if you want to spawn a hotspot at a coffee shop and power your next team meeting, but practically, most will find more value in having faster connectivity on their productivity devices.

The 5G rollout has progressed significantly in 2022, but there are still plenty of locations where 4G is your best connection option. With the end of 3G services rapidly approaching, expect the 5G rollout from telcos to continue to accelerate dramatically in 2023.

Greater focus on cybersecurity and data privacy

Last year was easily the worst in Australia’s history for cybersecurity (thanks Optus and Medibank). The reality is, attacks are on the rise and international political uncertainty isn’t helping. While businesses should have learnt from the very public mistakes of the past, it is likely cybersecurity and data privacy continue to be in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.