LAS VEGAS — 2024 has been a busy year for the tech world.
The rise of generative artificial intelligence made headlines as companies rushed to take the lead and harness the technology for themselves and make it available to consumers, providing a sense of excitement and possibility.
On the other hand, the technology sector has been forced to face a wave of layoffs that swept the industry over the summer months, resulting in layoffs dubbed the “Great Tech Reset.”
Despite some ups and downs, the technology sector is still full of innovation and optimism for the future.
“Innovation is tangible. We can touch it and feel it. We know it when we see it,” said Brian Comiskey, senior director of innovation and trends and futurist at the Consumer Technology Association. “When we face an obstacle, challenge or conflict, humans adapt, create or design technologies to provide solutions.”
Comiskey spoke Sunday evening ahead of the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show to highlight some of the emerging trends shaping the technology consumers can expect to see in 2025.
Generation Z and technology
Born between 1997 and 2012, Generation Z represents the largest global generation ever, making up about a third of the world’s population.
“To understand how technology evolves, we must first understand the people behind the technology,” Comiskey said. “Political, economic and socio-cultural changes certainly impact the adoption and use of technology. However, it is generational change that is at the very heart of the evolving relationship between humanity and society. technology.”
For the tech industry, the rise of Generation Z represents a big change.
For what?
While millennials and Gen is impacting this generation’s technology purchasing habits.
Research has shown that Generation Z increasingly values sustainability and other cultural values in their purchasing habits. At the same time, the generation is also engaging in fast fashion and other unsustainable habits, creating the idea of a value action gap.
“If Gen Z were exposed to products with multiple sustainability values such as recyclability and energy efficiency, they would be two and a half times more likely to purchase the product,” Comiskey said, adding that specialists in Marketing and product designers will need to take this into account. for this when creating the technology that Generation Z will engage with.
AI in 2025
By 2024, the retail AI market was worth $7 billion. By the end of the decade – just five years from now – Comiskey said the market is expected to reach $30 billion.
Comiskey said that more than half of U.S. consumers use generative AI to personalize their purchases and that at the individual shopper level, the use of AI generates a 40% higher likelihood of purchase.
“AI will continue to be a key trend at CES this year. I don’t think that’s surprising,” Comiskey said. “It will be about how does (AI) increase productivity?”
He added that companies like Chatbase are working to evolve AI into “AI agents” that can autonomously perform business tasks such as payroll and customer relationship management.
Additionally, companies like SES AI are developing batteries to power emerging humanoid robots.
It’s not just at the upper echelon of technology that AI will have an increased presence, as consumer devices will be equipped with more powerful AI capabilities.
“Integrating AI into the next generation of consumer hardware – whether it’s a smartphone, laptop, TV or even smart glasses and vehicles – is transforming them from device status to intelligent platform,” Comiskey said.
Human security
“Human security is really about human rights like environmental protection, food security, access to health care and others,” Comiskey said. “Technology has an opportunity and a role to play in addressing and helping to solve some of these challenges.”
He highlighted the energy transition as one of the ways in which technology would, according to him, respond to global challenges.
Companies are integrating energy sources directly into our networks, with Eaton developing cooling technology for data centers and Siemens and Samsung working to automate home energy operations using AI.
Another notion of human security is linked to energy and the environment, namely food security.
So how can technology help with this?
Kubota develops robotic technologies that help manage farmland, and John Deere on Monday unveiled a host of new autonomous machines combining advanced computer vision, AI and cameras to help machines navigate their environments.
Comfort and content in smart homes
Much attention has been paid to technological advancements in transportation, and while that won’t stop in 2025, Comiskey posed a question to CES attendees.
What happens when you get home?
“When we’re out there, we naturally seek comfort, and technology plays a role in that,” he said.
There is perhaps no better indicator of this than something that is a staple of homes across the United States and beyond: televisions.
Comiskey said TVs are transitioning from entertainment consoles to “smart home command centers.”
“Smart home hubs will drive health integration, greater energy management capabilities, and deeper personalization through AI to build the home in a way that promotes financial, physical well-being and general,” Comiskey said.
Samsung, LG and Hisense are introducing the next generation of AI-enabled TVs to help consumers manage their smart homes and show the future of what entertainment could look like.
Have you ever envied a character’s outfit in a series or film? Soon, you might have the ability to pause what you’re watching and buy that outfit right from your screen.
Comiskey said video streaming services and video games will likely focus more on live services in 2025. Netflix recently broke streaming records with the most-streamed National Football League game in the United States on Christmas Day, and the success of video games like Marvel Rivals shows that live services are a trend that isn’t going away anytime soon.
“We have our first lead in the middle of this decade, all gearing up for the 2030s,” Comiskey said. “If the 2020s are the decade of intelligence, then the 2030s will be the decade of quantum.”
The key takeaways from this article were generated with the help of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article itself is solely written by humans.