Five 2025 Predictions About AI That Will Shatter It's Hype
It's December 26, 2024 and that means 2025 is almost here! These five predictions examine how the evolving AI landscape will reshape business dynamics in 2025, particularly as regulatory frameworks shift and companies balance profit motives against mounting societal pressures.
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Ethical AI Implementation is History
D
espite calls for ethical AI, many companies optically are falling short. Suchir Balaji, a highly accomplished and former Open AI researcher called out what he believed the company’s use of copyright material which he believed to be both violations of copyright law, the rights of copyright holders and a practice which stepped over the ethical grey line, a scenario not much different than John Barnett from Boeing, another 2024 whistleblower believed to have died from self-inflected wounds.
Also this year, Clearview AI’s misuse of facial recognition sparked outrage again for use of an illegally constructed database comprised of stolen images from social media platforms - they were fined $30M for doing so, just a small fine considering the billions reaped from making it available. Yet it’s just the tip of the iceberg. Microsoft advocates for responsible AI, as do most companies, but without universal standards and legally enforceable regulations, companies will continue to prioritize innovation over ethics. In 2025, this could amplify a widespread consumer mistrust, especially as AI becomes more pervasive in marketing. Consumers demand transparency and authenticity- failing to provide it often results in backlash, lawsuits, and diminished trust in brands. Businesses that neglect ethical frameworks today may find themselves scrambling to repair reputations amongst their customers.
Prediction: With that being said, businesses will likely continue to prioritize profit, even with the good intentions of adding ethics to the framework, it just won’t be prioritized, and along with an incoming administration whose belief that regulations are a business killer, new regulations will never come to be implemented and current ones will be relaxed and or not enforced. But there are decent players right now. For instance, Meta’s Lamma project is both open source and extremely powerful, and may just be the go to resource as the criticisms and negative feedback begin to bubble up in the marketplace. Meta isn’t alone in providing a counter balance.
A Battleground for Automation
Th
e democratization of AI tools is creating an unexpected digital divide in marketing. While Salesforce's Einstein GPT and Adobe's Sensei GenAI offer enterprise-level solutions starting at $5,000/month, small businesses struggle with basic AI implementation. Even "affordable" tools like Jasper.ai ($40-400/month) and Copy.ai ($36-279/month) add up quickly for small operations. The disparity isn't just in cost - it's in capability. Enterprise solutions integrate seamlessly with existing tech stacks, while SMBs cobble together disconnected tools, creating inefficient workflows and data silos.
Microsoft's Copilot for Microsoft 365 illustrates this divide perfectly - at $30/user/month, it's theoretically accessible but requires enterprise-level Microsoft licensing, putting it out of reach for many small businesses. Meanwhile, HubSpot's AI tools are bundled into their enterprise packages, starting at $1,200/month - pricing out the very businesses that could benefit most from automation.
Prediction: In 2025, this technology gap will create multiple distinct business tiers for Enterprise, SMBs and Small Businesses increasingly falling behind with patchwork solutions. The impact won't just be technological - it will reshape market dynamics. Expect to see:
Enterprise companies using AI to optimize at scales that make competition nearly impossible - think Monopolies servicing emerging Monopolies.
- A new middleware industry emerging to help small businesses compete, but adding another layer of costs
- Open-source alternatives gaining traction but requiring technical expertise most small businesses lack, but will need.
- Local business associations and chambers of commerce creating shared AI resources to help members compete
- Potential antitrust concerns as AI capabilities become a major factor in market consolidation
- The irony? The same tools promising to level the playing field could instead cement existing market hierarchies. Some legislators are already raising concerns about AI's impact on market competition, but with regulatory focus in the US currently primarily on ethics and safety, and a new administration not really concerned about it - economic access issues are likely to go unaddressed.
Combating Misinformation with More Misinformation
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e 2017 we’ve been introduced to and have been dealing with the concept of Alternative Facts. Generative AI has allowed for not only a plethora of new written content to permeate all aspects of the web - from blogs, websites and social media posts, but also images from Midjourney, Dall-E and Gemini, videos from Sora and other apps that deliver convincing deep fakes and , audio with tools like Suno and Mureka to make songs. Despite AI’s power, misinformation thrives and permeates all aspects of content now, because there are those who use it to create things we need, enjoy and want, as well as those who use it for darker reasons. X (formerly Twitter) struggled to contain false narratives during the 2020 U.S. elections, showcasing the limits of AI moderation.
Prediction: In 2025, without better oversight, marketing campaigns could inadvertently amplify fake news, harming brands and consumers alike. The consequences? Tarnished reputations, public backlash, and reduced trust in digital platforms. Companies must prioritize combating misinformation now, ensuring their AI tools do more than just serve ad revenue—they must also protect truth and credibility in marketing.
Job Displacement Mitigation
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Prediction: By 2025, job displacement will intensify, leaving many without viable career paths. College students and graduates will have an even more difficult time entering a workforce as we’ve come to enjoy over the last 80 years. Efforts to reskill workers lag behind the pace of automation, risking a workforce crisis. While companies benefit from cost reductions, society bears the burden of unemployment. People who invest in upskilling and reskilling today will be better positioned to lead ethically in the AI-driven future at least in the short term - long term remains uncertain as both the advances in AI capabilities and Humanoid robots come to the marketplace, it puts every human job at risk. Even some fiercely pro-AI Thought Leaders professing, “those who learn how to use AI will be safe” are hedging their content with both what they say and how they say it (no job is 100% safe). Funny enough, none of what’s listed in this post will be safe for those currently in College, even those on the list like #5 “Tied to nature or the outdoors”, and here’s why. There’s still potential though for entrepreneurship - and I’m not just talking about Onlyfans. Amazing content will still be owned by humans, be it Art, Food, written, audio, video. AI can do it, but they will just be another face to compete with.
Sustainable AI Practices Become a Driving Force
Training AI models like GPT-4 consumes massive amounts of energy - equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of small countries. While tech giants like Google and Microsoft pledge carbon neutrality, the industry's overall environmental impact continues to grow exponentially. Google's bold move into nuclear power for AI operations signals both the scale of the energy challenge and potential solutions.
The rising energy demands of AI data centers are pushing innovation in sustainable power generation. Companies like Microsoft are also diversifying their energy portfolio with wind, solar, and advanced nuclear technologies. However, smaller companies without such resources struggle to balance AI capabilities with environmental responsibility. In 2025, the environmental cost of AI could become a major point of contention, particularly as climate change impacts intensify, raising the costs of using AI as well as what ultimately AI will be used for.
Prediction: Energy consumption and environmental impact will become central to companies with an AI strategy. Companies will face increasing pressure to demonstrate sustainable AI practices, not from regulators - regulation power will be diminished but from investors looking for the largest return. Expect to see a three-tiered market emerge: leaders who invest in their own clean energy infrastructure (like Google's nuclear initiative (Hey, new jobs!), mid-tier companies partnering with green energy providers, and laggards who face mounting criticism and potential regulatory penalties on the global scale.
Ths comes from my Pandora’s Bot Newsletter series — covering how AI is going to impact your life - both the pros and the unintended concequences. Don’t forget to subscribe! And if you think your friends or colleagues would enjoy it, please share thepandorasbot.com!