Artificial intelligence. It’s been the hot topic for the last two years since generative AI exploded into the mainstream. And to be honest, it isn’t going anywhere. There has been lots of chatter about how the technology will revolutionise our lives and in 2025, I believe this is when we will truly see some game-changing innovation with AI that moves beyond just productivity.
From becoming your personal assistant to the evolution of generated content and the emergence of artificial general intelligence (AGI), these are the next big trends in AI we can expect to see over the coming year and beyond.
The year of the AI agent
AI agents have been popping up throughout 2024. For those who might have missed them or are unsure what an ‘AI agent’ is, it is basically an autonomous intelligent system performing specific tasks with minimal to no human intervention. Their purpose is ultimately to automate those mundane and time consuming tasks, usually with the ability to complete them instantaneously.
Not only will they become your very own personal assistant, but they will also increasingly assist in customer support roles. Speaking to Bloomberg recently, Sequoia Capital’s Konstantine Buhler noted not only will 2025 become the year of the AI agent but we will also begin to see them working together in swarms and networks.
Significant cloud infrastructure is currently being developed to support voice-to-voice AI agents across various scenarios. So expect to see more of them used for customer service, development, language translation and in gaming and entertainment.
The next evolution of content creation
AI generated content is going nowhere in 2025 – it is only set to become more prolific across all mediums. Beyond just text and image, we will see video and audio generation technology continue to evolve, improving quality and consistency.
Generative 3D content will also gain more traction. Unlike generative text, image, and video content, AI-generated 3D has seen less development, though it’s crucial for immersive social experiences. Innovations like Gaussian splatting – an advanced form of photogrammetry – and generative 3D are set to break new ground.
Additionally, with the pressures to be constantly creating and appearing in content, it’s likely we will see influencers and content creators leverage generative AI tools to produce videos, images, and other content. The success of new tools, like NotebookLM, allow creators to be replaced or augmented by multimodal AIs capable of replicating their likeness.
This is all, of course, a double-edged sword with concerns around deepfakes, impersonations and breach of copyright remaining front and centre. For these reasons, mainstream video and audio generators will face increased scrutiny regarding their training datasets. Companies like Suno, currently facing legal action from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and Runway, which reportedly trained on thousands of YouTube videos, are already being examined.
On the flip side, Adobe has been setting the standard to avoid such issues. Its generative AI tool Adobe Firefly takes a cautious approach by using only licensed material. This shift will eventually provide clarity and establish a framework for brands to safely use generative technologies.
Beyond the LLM
The evolution of large language models (LLMs) has started to plateau, highlighting the need for new technologies and methodologies to push further advancements and work towards AGI. Although AGI is not necessary for practical AI applications, it remains a significant milestone.
AGI is when the technology will be able to perform tasks that it is not necessarily trained or developed for. AI as we know it is usually trained on set parameters, whereas AGI will be able to train itself beyond these parameters and learn new skills autonomously.
The concept sounds very Black Mirror – and for now, it still is very much a theoretical concept. However, given the rapid pace of AI development, unless we face another AI winter, it might not be too far away.
As a techno-optimist, I believe that AI will bring some of its most exciting developments yet in 2025. However, much work remains in areas like education, informed regulation, and the development of mechanisms and methodologies to ensure this powerful technology is used responsibly and not for malicious purposes. If we get this right, AI will unlock exciting possibilities for both businesses and consumers.
This thought leadership is written by Manolis Perrakis, Innovation Director at We Are Social Singapore
The insight is published as part of MARKETECH APAC’s thought leadership series under What’s NEXT in Marketing 2025, a multi-platform industry initiative which features marketing and industry leaders in APAC sharing their marketing insights and predictions for 2025 and beyond.