From finance and technology to arts and entertainment, from healthcare to agriculture, from academia to research and intelligence – everyone is turning to AI. And for good reason. Experts believe “AI and new changes in cloud computing, etc, are going to change the way the world looks.” And naturally, firms, investors, governments and other stakeholders want to stay ahead in the race.
According to figures from the research firm GlobalData: “The overall AI market will be worth $909 billion by 2030, registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 35% between 2022 and 2030.” Billions are being invested in this key sector, in the hope that the technology will eventually help improve efficiency as well as reduce operational costs.
Take Google as an example. The firm has one of the most ambitious investment plans for its AI arm DeepMind. Bosses said earlier this year the company could invest around $100 billion in the technology over the coming years.
Are we ready?
In 2024 the corporate world continued to wake up to the reality of AI. We witnessed major developments in generative AI, cross-sector adoption and integration, an investment rush never seen before, and the wonders of ChatGPT. So what does 2025 have to offer?
Predicting AI’s future potential and its application across sectors is tricky. And it’s is partly because that potential also depends on the state of organizational readiness and the policy choices made by key stakeholders.
This was one of the key findings from Omnia Strategy Group’s 2025 State of AI Readiness study, which “focused on the AI readiness of 375 business leaders, technology professionals, and policymakers across major industries in the United States.”
It found “a clear reality: while AI advances rapidly, our current infrastructure and organizational readiness fall short of supporting its potential. This gap affects everything from market dynamics to global problem-solving capacity.”
The message is clear. Business leaders and policy makers need to understand and reduce the gap between AI advancements and their state of readiness. Only then can they reap true rewards in terms of innovation and revenue generation.
Quantum computing and data
Expert executives at Nvidia have predicted a number of ways in which developments in quantum computing, data centre cooling and collaboration between AI-agents and humans will “reshape enterprise computing landscape.”
On the technology front, we can expect quantum computing to develop the ability to correct errors. This will need the placement of quantum hardware inside supercomputers. It will prevent them from becoming unstable after performing thousands of operations, and enable them to carry out problem solving, according to Ian Buck, VP of Hyperscale and High-Performance Computing at Nvidia.
“While AI advances rapidly, our current infrastructure and organisational readiness fall short of supporting its potential.”
Omnia Strategy Group
The entire AI infrastructure relies on data centres. And data centres requiring constant cooling to keep running and performs thousands of tasks. Firms could potentially choose to co-locate their AI infrastructure instead of building and maintaining their own. This will reduce costs, improve efficiency and also keep data centres cool with the help of liquid cooling systems, says Charlie Boyle, VP of DGX Platforms at Nvidia.
And firms could also turn to AI-enabled agents for the purpose of customer service and data security. These will be semi-autonomous trained models that work across internal networks.
“These orchestrators will have access to deeper content understanding, multilingual capabilities and fluency with multiple data types, ranging from PDFs to video streams,” says Kari Briski, VP of Generative AI Software at Nvidia.
Scope for AI deployment
Are we brave enough and imagine robotic colleagues at our workplaces? Not the ones that flip burgers or change tyres, but highly skilled AI-enabled robotic agents that can work in offices and put together sales strategies and business plans.
San Fransisco-based AI firm Artisan AI has already developed such agents. “Artisans work alongside your human team in our highly functional platform that contains every tool needed to complete their role, starting with sales,” the firm says on its website.
We can also expect the construction and engineering sectors to truly embrace Ai in the near future, to improve project timelines and budget management.
“AI will evaluate reality capture data (lidar, photogrammetry and radiance fields) 24/7 and derive mission-critical insights on quality, safety and compliance – resulting in reduced errors and worksite injuries,” says Bob Pette, VP of Enterprise Platforms at Nvidia.
Experts have highlighted many other sectors that can also benefit from AI deployment in the near future. These include:
- healthcare diagnostics;
- financial fraud detection;
- retail personalisation;
- autonomous vehicles;
- supply chain optimization;
- natural language processing for customer support; and
- energy management.
That list is by no means complete, but it sheds light on how exactly the technology is making its way into the very fabric of modern-day work environment, and how it can affect all of us in the future.
What about regulation?
The US is clearly ahead of the rest of the world in the AI race, both in terms of investment as well as the invention and development of homegrown technology.
When it comes to regulation however, policymakers in the US are finding it hard to choose sides in what some see as a battle between humanity and technology. Many of their concerns stem from the risks AI could potentially pose, such as bias in hiring systems and fears of runaway super-intelligence, according to experts at Brookings.
Much will depend on the approach the new Trump administration takes towards AI regulation. Trump has already warned about revoking President Biden’s executive order on regulating the technology. And he has surrounded himself with AI enthusiasts such as Elon Musk and Paul Atkins.
In the EU, some experts argue that a tendency by governments and agencies to over-regulate the technology is the reason why the bloc is lagging behind the US in its AI journey. Bosses of large European software firms have complained that the EU’s approach towards AI regulation has left them in a weaker position compared to their US rivals.
Another key difference is that, unlike in the US, most EU investments in AI come from governments rather than private firms or individuals. Again, the bloc’s risk-based approach to AI regulation could be a reason for that.
China’s AI governance strategy revolves three main pillars. These include “the content and information generated and disseminated online, the protection and security of personal data, and the use of algorithms to make decisions about individuals.” Experts do not expect any major changes in Beijing’s current AI regulatory framework.
Other key players, such as India, are relaxed about the challenges and complexities of regulating AI for now, and are more focussed on developing the technology, especially at home.
Investment boom
Judging by some of the recent announcements by the world’s largest technology firms, it is safe to predict that the investment boom in AI will continue.
Two weeks ago Amazon announced a further $4 billion investment in AI start-up Anthropic. This took Amazon’s total investment in the AI developer to $8 billion.
That figure is almost dwarfed by Microsoft’s nearly $14 billion investment in Sam Altman’s OpenAI since 2019. It also includes $6.6 billion in fundraise for OpenAI, as reported by the WSJ. Microsoft is also investing in some other AI start-ups and projects.
And then there is Elon Musk’s xAI. Recent reports claimed he was on the verge of raising around $5 billion in funds for the firm. A successful completion will put the company’s valuation at $50 billion.
Google’s 2024 third quarter investment in its AI infrastructure and generative AI solutions is reported to be around $13 billion. Meta’s AI investment figures for 2024 are also impressive, with the company expected to spend between $35-40 billion on the technology.
“The overall AI market will be worth $909 billion by 2030, registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 35% between 2022 and 2030.”
GlobalData study
Chinese private investment in AI for 2023 was reported to be around $7.8 billion, putting it second behind the US in global rankings.
Firms such as ByteDance, TikTok’s mother company, has poured billions of dollars in developing Generative AI, and is recruiting top talent from local rivals, the FT recently reported.
At the government level, experts believe China has developed an AI ecosystem that matches and could even soon surpass the US, paving the way for the country to become the top AI innovator in the world.
Investment in this sector in India, Saudi and the UAE is also mostly backed by the governments.
In summary
Advancements in AI are expected to shape and and even dominate policies in 2025, both within the private sector and on government levels.
The gap between technological advancements and organizational readiness must be addressed. It can otherwise lead to conflict, both at internal organisational as well as global government levels.
We will see increased AI adoption and integration across sectors in the near future, as AI-enabled models and agents take on more sensitive and intellectually demanding tasks previously carried out by humans.
The US is ahead of its rivals such as China and the EU in terms of developing the technology. However, its AI sector heavily depends on private investment. Policies adopted by governments such as China’s could mean Beijing soon replaces the US as the global AI leader.
Regulatory stability is key for advancements as well as investments in AI. How the incoming US administration deals with this subject will have a major impact on the future of AI, both in the US and abroad.
