The 2024 tech predictions from Amazon's chief technology officer

From culturally sensitive generative AI to FemTech, the technology industry is poised to undergo massive change in the coming months

Human-shaped robot Ameca from Britain's Engineered Arts interacts with visitors in Geneva. Getty Images

Technology is moving at a rapid pace.

Advanced cloud technologies, machine learning, and generative artificial intelligence are now within easy reach.

They are influencing nearly every facet of our existence, from composing emails to software development and early-stage disease detection and diagnosis.

The coming years will witness innovations in various domains aiming to make technology accessible to all, enabling users' ability to match the accelerating pace of daily life – starting with generative AI, Werner Vogels, Amazon’s chief technology officer and vice president, said on Thursday.

The National looks at some of the major tech predictions for 2024 that Mr Vogels made during Amazon Web Services’ re:Invent event on Thursday.

Culturally sensitive generative AI

Large language models will be trained on culturally diverse data to ensure a better understanding of human experience and solve complex societal challenges.

This will guarantee that models provide more robust and technically accurate responses across a broad range of topics.

The effects will be profound and felt across geographic regions, communities and generations to come.

An all-in-one dual -armed robot 'Nextage' at the Kawada Robotics booth, during the International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo. EPA

“Culture influences everything – the stories we tell, the food we eat, the way we dress, our values, our manners, our biases, the way we approach problems and make decisions,” Mr Vogels said.

“This cultural fluency promises to make generative AI more accessible to users worldwide.”

FemTech experiences a long-awaited surge

Women’s health care reaches an inflection point as FemTech investment surges and an abundance of data allows improved diagnoses and patient outcomes in 2024.

“We have been working closely with women-led start-ups and have seen first-hand the growth in FemTech. In the last year alone, funding has increased 197 per cent," Mr Vogels said.

With increased access to capital, technologies like machine learning, AI and connected devices designed specifically for women are expected to surge next year.

US women, who comprise 50 per cent of the population and account for 80 per cent of consumer healthcare decisions in the country, spend more than $500 billion a year on care, said AWS.

AI assistants revolutionise developers’ efficiency

AI assistants will evolve from basic code generators into educators and collaborators that offer support throughout the software development lifecycle.

These assistants will be customisable at the individual, team or company level, and they will be able to explain the intricacies of complex distributed systems.

AI assistants are expected to evolve from basic code generators into educators in coming months. EPA

“They will explain complex systems in simple language, suggest targeted improvements, and take on repetitive tasks, allowing developers to focus on the parts of their work that have the most impact,” Mr Vogels predicted.

As a result, in the coming years, engineering teams will become more productive, develop higher quality systems and shorten software release lifecycles "as AI assistants move from novelty to necessity across the entire software industry", he said.

Education keeping pace with rapid technological innovation

Mr Vogels predicted that industry-led, skills-based training programmes will emerge in 2024 and the shift will benefit people and businesses alike.

“As more industries call for specialisation from their employees, the gap is widening between what’s taught in school and what employers need," he said.

Last week, Amazon announced an “AI Ready” initiative that aims to provide free AI skills training to 2 million people globally by 2025.

But Mr Vogels said this does not mean that traditional degrees are going away.

“This is not an either/or situation … it’s about choice," he said.

"There will still be areas in tech where this type of academic learning is critical. But there will be many industries where the impact of technology outpaces traditional educational systems.”

Nearly 50,000 attendees are attending re:Invent in person, while 300,000 are following the event online. Photo: AWS