Perhaps like never before, the world is in the midst of a massive technology shift, as AI and other disruptive technologies become “human by design”—much more human-like and intuitive for people to use—and usher in a new era of unprecedented productivity and creativity. And as human-centric technologies wield even greater capabilities, become easier to interact with and even more seamlessly embedded across every aspect of our lives, new research from Accenture asserts we are moving toward a world where the technology around us will become more omnipresent, yet also more invisible.
The firm’s new report, Technology Vision 2024: Human by Design: How AI Unleashes the Next Level of Human Potential, explores how after years of exponential innovation, technology—especially generative AI—is becoming more human in its nature. And as technology evolves to be more human-centric, it drives substantially greater capabilities for people to amplify their potential and reinvent business as we know it. According to the research, generative AI has the potential to impact 44 percent of all working hours across industries, enable productivity enhancements across 900 different types of jobs and create $6 to $8 trillion in global economic value.
“As AI, spatial computing and body-sensing technologies evolve to a point where tech appears to imitate human capabilities and seem invisible, what you’ll see left are the people—empowered with new capabilities to accomplish things they once considered impossible,” said Paul Daugherty, chief technology and innovation officer at Accenture, in a news release. “This important seismic shift in the way people work, live and learn will accelerate a wave of unprecedented change across industries, from retail and entertainment to medicine and manufacturing. Organizations that act now to reinvent their business and ways of working using ‘human by design’ technologies will redefine what it means to be an industry leader.”
The study identifies four key trends in the move to “human by design” technologies:
1) A match made in AI: Reshaping our relationship with knowledge
The wunderkind tech is ushering in a world where data is reorganized in ways that facilitate human-like reasoning and even mimic creativity. Instead of combing through mountains of search engine results, people will receive curated, personalized responses in the form of advice, a summation of a vast set of results, an essay, an image or even a piece of art. Searching now becomes synthesizing and business leaders who reimagine how information works in the organization and equip their people with AI-enabled enterprise knowledge tooling will realize exponential performance gains and competitive advantages.
2) Meet my agent: Ecosystems for AI
Envision a world where AI-empowered agents work on behalf of individuals and are part of an interconnected ecosystem. These automated agents not only assist and advise us, but also take decisive actions on our behalf in both the physical and digital worlds. Working together, they multiply the collective output of workers and generate immense value for enterprises that choose to participate. 96 percent of executives agree that leveraging AI agent ecosystems will be a significant opportunity for their organization in the next three years.
3) The space we need: Creating value in new realities
Emerging tech is creating rich, new immersive worlds of personal interaction by extending our physical, 2D worlds into new 3D environments created using spatial computing, metaverse, digital twins and AR/VR technologies. These new places and experiences will fuse our digital and physical worlds, bringing us together in new ways, fueling innovation and improving the way we work, live and learn. In the world of retail, a third (33 percent) of consumers indicated they are, or would be interested in, using spatial computing technologies or devices for shopping today.
4) Our bodies electronic: A new human interface
By using innovative, embedded technologies—such as AI-powered wearables, brain-sensing neurotech, and eye and movement tracking—to unlock a better understanding of us, our lives and our intentions and using those deeper insights to enhance the way we work and live. And 94 percent of executives agree that human interface technologies will let us better understand behaviors and intentions, transforming human-machine interaction.
“Human-centered technologies like generative AI are poised to unleash human potential and deliver a staggering array of business and societal benefits, but only if we take a balanced, ‘human by design’ approach that ensures these technologies are used fairly and responsibly,” added Daugherty. A full 93 percent of executives agree that with rapid technological advancements, it is more important than ever for organizations to innovate with purpose.
Download the full report here.
Watch the findings presented at CES 2024.
For 24 years, Accenture’s Technology Vision has taken a systematic look across the enterprise landscape to identify technology trends with the highest likelihood of disrupting businesses and industries. Input for the 2024 report, was gathered from an external advisory board of more than two dozen experts spanning academia, business and the public sector. Primary global research includes a survey of 3,450 C-level executives across 21 industries and more than 20,000 consumers fielded from October to November 2023 across 20 countries.
