Amber Mac
Technology and Innovation Speaker

2025 is all about relentless adaptation beyond ChatGPT in the age of AI. In my keynotes, I share my blueprint called The P.A.T.H. to help organizations chart a path forward in this blank space we call the future. In 2025, there are a number of important updates to help each of us (and our businesses) thrive in an AI world.

Purpose: Drive Growth
In 2025, we will continue to see signs that a defined purpose is what the next generation wants. When recruiting new team members putting purpose into focus will be an essential part of growing your business.

AI: Build Agents
In 2025, AI agents are the main focus for big tech players. Think of AI agents as an accessible way to grow your team. They can book travel, schedule appointments, manage customer requests, and more.

Trust: Find Courage
2025 will be a year of fighting misinformation and disinformation, and it will be more of a major battle than an insignificant fight.

Health: Wear AI
In a world with gaps in care, more people are opting to gather their own data on sleep, strain, heart rate variability, and other health metrics. Healthcare teams that leverage this personal and real-time information can better serve their patients.

Shawn Kanungo
Strategy in a World of Disruption

Clayton Christensen, the godfather of the “Jobs to Be Done” theory, taught us that people don’t buy products — they “hire” solutions to solve specific problems in their lives.

Take running shoes. When a hardcore runner “hires” a running store instead of grabbing one from Amazon, the job isn’t just “I need shoes” — it’s “I need someone who understands my training needs and can recommend the perfect shoe for my next race.” It’s why On Running grew from serving serious runners to becoming an $18B company.

Similarly, when a dentist “hires” specialized dental practice software instead of QuickBooks, the job isn’t to just “track money” — it’s to “handle the unique workflows of a dental practice. AI is making it possible for small teams to build these specialized tools for niche industries.

And when someone subscribes to a niche podcast instead of getting their information and entertainment from traditional sources, the job isn’t just “get information” — it’s “help me deeply understand this specific topic from someone who lives and breathes it.” This is why niche creators like the Acquired podcast or Call Her Daddy can sell out arenas!

The future winners won’t do every job for every customer. They’re picking one specific job and doing it remarkably better. The opportunity is massive because there aren’t just a few jobs to be done — there are MANY jobs to be done.

Paul Zikopoulos
Future Trends and AI Expert

2025 will bring in a new buzzword around the already hot topic of generative AI — agentic AI. This will unlock the next wave of productivity gains.

Today, most of us use some kind of large language model (LLM) — like IBM Granite, OpenAI ChatGPT, or Google Gemini — in a task-oriented workflow. In this version of AI, humans get more productive because it provides scalability to human capability. You see this every time you use a well coded chatbot that solves a problem for you. You type something, get a response, type something again, get another response, etc.

Building on this is agentic AI, which gives AI more autonomy and capabilities so that it can solve problems for you. On the surface, agentic AI reduces the need for human intervention when interacting with LLMs. By giving it goal-oriented instructions, agentic AI can independently come up with a series of tasks (and sub-tasks, like research) to achieve that goal.

A great example of this is asking agentic AI to plan a surfing vacation in Greece. With this goal in mind, it would research the best weather for surfing, the best price, the least amount of tourist crowding, what island to surf, where to stay, eat, what to do, etc. It would look at countless reviews, historical weather patterns, shark sightings, and more to create an itinerary that will have you reaching for some Ouzo and yelling “Opa!” as you click the “book it” button. It’s your own personal travel concierge. 

Dr. Helen Papagiannis
World-Leading Expert on AI and Immersive Technologies

In 2025, the convergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) is unlocking transformative possibilities for humanity and creativity. These technologies are merging to redefine how we learn, create, and connect, enabling what I call reality modding — the ability to reshape and reimagine our environments and experiences. Through my work with the World Economic Forum, I’ve explored how this integration can amplify our potential while addressing ethical and societal challenges.

Preparing for this future requires understanding the profound ways AR and AI can shape the human experience. By upskilling in immersive design and AI literacy, we can harness these tools to complement — not replace — human ingenuity.

For example, A key trend accelerating this future is the rise of digital smart glasses. By seamlessly integrating AI’s intelligence with AR’s spatial capabilities, these devices hold transformative potential across industries: education with adaptive learning, retail with immersive shopping, travel with personalized experiences, and entertainment with dynamic storytelling.

Dwayne Matthews
Future of Education and Work Strategist | Innovation Evangelist

These are my top tech trends in 2025 that will drive accelerating returns and exponential growth across many intersecting industries. The first trend will be a driver, with the remaining accelerating returns, risks, and opportunities.

1. Critical minerals and geopolitics: The AI revolution depends on semiconductors, which require critical minerals. China controls 98% of this market. With the US banning AI chips to China and China retaliating with mineral bans, a US-Canada-Greenland partnership seems inevitable. How this partnership forms will have profound economic implications.
2. Personalized cancer vaccines: By 2025, breakthroughs in mRNA and AI-driven personalized cancer vaccines will emerge, delivering tailored treatments based on individual genetics. At least three companies are nearing completion, making this a potentially revolutionary healthcare milestone. This will energize the longevity industry
3. Democratized R&D with HPCs: Affordable personal supercomputers will empower smaller companies to train AI models, simulate solutions, and tackle global challenges like replacing critical minerals. At under $5,000 per device, this technology will quietly disrupt a cross section of industries.
4. The rise of high-IQ AI agents: AI agents will transform problem-solving and decision-making across sectors. Training people to collaborate with these systems is essential for economic adaptation. Companies that get this right will leave those who don’t way behind.