Every year, MIT Technology Review experts examine the possible prospects for technology in the coming year and choose 10 technologies that have the greatest potential to change our lives. These experts consider the advances made in many fields, including biotechnology and artificial intelligence to computing, robotics and other technologies. Here are some of the improvements that seem to have the most impact right now:
Development of artificial intelligence (AI)
We now live in an age where hundreds of millions of people have interacted directly with artificial intelligence using content generation tools such as ChatGPT to generate text, images, videos, or more. The popularity of these technologies has forced large companies such as Google, Meta and Microsoft to seriously invest in this technology.
Ultra-optimal solar cells
Solar energy is currently developing at a good pace around the world. Environmentally friendly energy supply is welcomed today, but most of the sunlight that shines on today’s panels is not converted into electricity. It is possible that adding a layer of tiny crystals could significantly optimize solar panels in the future.
Weight loss drugs
The World Health Organization has called the increase in obesity in the world an epidemic. Drugs like Mounjaro and Wegovy are now among the most effective tools available to patients and doctors to treat it. Some evidence suggests that these drugs can also protect patients against heart attacks and strokes.
Advanced geothermal systems
Geothermal energy is clean, always available, and virtually unlimited. However, due to technical and engineering challenges, we have hardly been able to use its capacities and capabilities. New drilling techniques have made it possible to drill deeper and in places that were not possible before, to get more heat from the earth to produce clean energy.
Chiplets
At some point, it becomes extremely difficult to make transistors smaller. This Moore’s Law shrinking has made computing impressively faster to date, but engineers must now find new ways to make computers faster and more efficient. Chiplets are small, specialized chips that can be connected together to do anything a regular chip does, and even more.
The first gene-based therapy
New CRISPR-based treatments have been in development for years. In the final weeks of 2023, an American company became the first to win regulatory approvals in both the UK and the US for the treatment of sickle cell disease (SCD). Of course, this will not be the last and will continue in the future.
Exascale computers
Exascale computing refers to computing systems capable of at least one exaflop, or one billion billion (that is, a number 1 followed by 18 zeros) calculations per second. Such a capacity represents a thousand-fold increase compared to the first petascale computer that was put into operation in 2008. These new machines can process scientific data at speed, enabling scientists to run more complex simulations of weather forecasting systems, nuclear fission, turbulence, and more.
