The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research and analysis division of global media organisation the Economist Group, has released its Technology and Telecoms Outlook 2025 report, which may dash the hopes of enterprises looking to make a quick buck off AI.
To put it bluntly, EIU forecasts that 2025 will be the year when the vast sums of money already invested in AI runs up against the wall of cold hard reality rather than the year of AI monetisation.
"EIU does not expect these investments to start creating returns on investment as hoped," the research group states.
"Many companies will continue trialling the technology, but further scaling up will be necessary, especially for generative AI, before it becomes profitable for its users."
The report assesses the growth prospects and regulations of the AI sector next year, as geopolitical tensions worsen and climate change allegedly poses new challenges.
According to the report, in 2025 users will struggle to deliver returns on their investment and most companies will still be at the proof-of-concept stage for implementation.
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“Next year will be the year of realism for artificial intelligence (AI), because we expect companies to struggle to deliver a return on their investment," Dexter Thillien, Lead Technology Analyst, EIU, says.
"There will also be more deals between AI companies and content holders in 2025, and the first court decision will be made on what can be used for free.”
The report also forecasts that semiconductor demand will be driven by AI rather than by traditional devices, but geopolitics and the tense relationship between China and the West will continue to trump economics when it comes to production decisions.
In the telecoms space, more countries will turn on satellite internet services, but use cases will be limited to enterprise clients in the military and maritime.
In another bold prediction, the EIU report forecasts that Amazon’s LEO constellation broadband initiative Kuiper will disrupt the market duopoly of SpaceX's Starlink and London-based EutelSat OneWeb.
The Technology and Telecoms Outlook 2025 report can be accessed here.