IT Essentials: What's next?

AI was the big story of 2023. Will that continue in 2024?

Welcome to the final IT Essentials of 2023 - publishing a few days early in the hope that people will actually read it before the holidays.

The Christmas parties are done, auto-responses set, and everything important has been put off until January. It's the end of another year.

But in many ways, at least for the tech trade, this has been a year like no other. For an industry that's all about change, we so rarely expect to be disrupted ourselves; and yet that's what 2023's biggest tech development, generative AI, threatens to do.

Like most skilled, office-based workers, tech professionals (and journalists) have long assumed they were insulated from the rising tide of automation. After all, a computer is not creative; it can't write perfect code or turn a transcript into an engaging article.

At least, it couldn't before November 2022. And it turns out that perfection isn't all it's cracked up to be. As long as an AI model can crank out something sort of okay, which a human can finagle into shape, that's good enough.

I've said to colleagues several times this year - mostly tongue in cheek - "If AI could just stay exactly where it is now and not get any more intelligent, that would be fine." That's unlikely to be the case, and the technology's rapid development means we'll all need to adjust what we expect and how we work.

AI hasn't been the only thing in the news this year. One of the other big stories was the tech layoffs in the first quarter, putting tens of thousands of professionals out of work - luckily, mostly temporarily. The industry has recovered since then, but there's no getting around the fact that it's been a difficult 12 months, and many firms have failed to meet targets. Combine that with the impact of AI, it's easy to see the threat the existing workforce - especially new starters - is under.

But, let's not end the year on a bum note. This is the perfect time to build an AI strategy, learn how to work with AI systems or even develop them yourself. Forecasts predict an economic upswing next year, and growth - albeit minor - will return. Who knows, you might even be able to secure some training budget.

I promise to try and write less about AI in my editorials next year, but the tech has a way of upsetting the best laid plans.

Have a fantastic Christmas for those who celebrate it; and for those who don't, enjoy the time off.