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A scant three years ago, I wrote a tech trends article for TechNewsWorld with a headline that posed an insightful question in anticipation of the new year. I asked, “Is this the year cyberattacks force privacy laws to grow some teeth?”

As it turned out, it wasn’t. Fast forwarding to the start of 2024, the same question goes begging for an affirmative response.

2024 — if nothing else — will be the year that defines new boundaries for containing cyber abuse and better online privacy, suggests Chad Cardenas, founder and CEO of The Syndicate Group. His venture firm leverages the power of the channel ecosystem to accelerate startup growth.

The cybersecurity industry will continue to flourish as organizations continually update and revise the infrastructure needed to manage risk and prevent attacks that intrude upon privacy. As cyber continues to grow and evolve, Cardenas sees a push toward exploring new avenues of growth in cyber standards.

“We are going to see an increased reliance on the channel — and a growing realization that specialized integrators and resellers will play a pivotal role in the year ahead as companies make changes and updates to their overall cyber defenses,” he told TechNewsWorld.

In 2024, the landscape of cybersecurity compliance will evolve significantly, driven by emerging technologies that push the barriers around evolving threat landscapes, offered Joseph Carson, chief security scientist and advisory CISO at Delinea. That will include changing regulatory frameworks.

“Privacy regulations like the GDPR and CCPA have set the stage for stricter data protection requirements. We can expect more regions and countries to adopt similar regulations, expanding the scope of compliance requirements for organizations that handle personal data,” he told TechNewsWorld.

The Difference Comes with AI

Darren Guccione, CEO and co-founder of Keeper Security, believes a faster arrival of enforceable privacy laws is possible this year. That will happen, at least partly, from the added abilities of artificial intelligence. But he added a caution that AI can help as well as hurt the privacy cause.

“AI has already had a significant impact on cybersecurity, for both cyber defenders who are finding new applications for cybersecurity solutions, as well as cyber criminals who can harness the power of AI to create more believable phishing attacks, develop malware, and increase the number of attacks they launch,” he told TechNewsWorld.

AI and machine learning have been at the forefront of cybersecurity for a while now, he noted. Many companies have been working to implement them in their cybersecurity posture.

The Executive Order from the Biden administration issued on Oct. 30, 2023, provides clarity to the subject of accountability in how AI is developed and deployed across organizations, Guccione observed.

For example, developers of the most powerful AI systems will be required to share their safety test results and other critical information with the U.S. government. Extensive red-team testing will be done to help ensure that AI systems are safe, secure, and trustworthy before they become available to the public.

Additionally, standardized tools and tests will be developed and implemented to provide governance over new and existing AI systems. Given the range of recommendations and actions included, organizations will likely feel the effects of this EO across all sectors, regardless of where they are in their AI journey or what type of AI system is being used.

Other Tech-Based Trends To Watch For

Tech startups can expect slow funding, more innovative vendor solutions, and better tooling assessments in 2024.

We are entering a new year in a less-than-optimal economic environment. Funding for tech startups will be slow, and not all companies will survive — even those that provide unique, innovative, and effective IT solutions, suggests Alex Hoff, chief strategy officer and co-founder of network management software firm Auvik.

Many startups were funded in 2020 and 2021 when much more capital was available. Now, IT organizations are tightening budgets, cutting non-critical solutions, and canceling subscriptions.

“That has resulted in customer churn for many companies that are not already cash-flow positive, and these businesses don’t have access to new funding due to the lack of available capital,” Hoff told TechNewsWorld.

He predicted that over the next twelve months, some of the vendors that enterprises rely on today will fold or be acquired, and such changes will cause disruption for CIOs and IT managers.

“It is critical to take careful inventory of all IT solutions your company currently relies on and assess whether each tool is a necessity or a nice-to-have solution,” he offered.

IT teams will need to compile research on suitable alternatives for must-have items and their costs just in case the vendor disappears. He offered three tips to apply in the process:

1. Strategic platforms that support sales, marketing, payroll, etc., are critical.
2. Review vendors’ claims about their use of AI to understand what type of AI they use, what data is being fed into their systems, and how that data is handled.
3. Evaluate your vendors to supply additional services or functionality you now get elsewhere. Consolidation is critical to control costs and improve efficiencies.

The Year of Quantum Leaps for Computing

With the continued advancements in quantum computing technology, 2024 may be the year we finally see its application in a few use cases, predicted Ron Gidron, co-founder and CEO of software technology Xtype.

“As researchers and companies continue to invest in and develop this cutting-edge technology, we can expect to see its impact on industries such as material science, genome sequencing, and drug discovery, he told TechNewsWorld.

Much research and development are needed before we see widespread implementation. However, Gidron shared that quantum computing will play a significant role in shaping our future.

Expanding Adoption of Rejuvenated Gen AI

The realm of generative AI is witnessing a renaissance, with recent advancements promising to redefine the boundaries of machine-led creation, according to Shomron Jacob, head of applied machine learning and platform at Iterate.ai. As this transformative technology continues to evolve, we must stay abreast of the latest research and its implications for industries and society at large.

“Generative AI is not merely about creating content. It is about pushing the boundaries of what machines can conceive and how they translate these conceptions into tangible outputs,” he told TechNewsWorld.

As we venture into 2024 and beyond, he forecasted that we are on the brink of a generative renaissance. From the intricate dance of natural language and the vibrant tapestry of images to the symphony of speech and music synthesis, the horizon is vast.

Generative AI trends show that it will be used in material science, drug design, parts design, and synthetic data derived after real-world observations. Some key trends to watch out for include:

• Improved Natural Language Generation
• Beyond Image Generation
• Speech Synthesis
• Generative Music, and
• Autonomous Game Development, he offered.

“With autonomous game development sculpting new realms of play, we are reminded that the creative frontier of AI is only just beginning to reveal its vast potential,” Jacob explained.

Should We Push Pause on AI Expectations?

Matthew Miller, research principal at G2, sees generative AI progressing in the months ahead. It will continue to expand — as well as evaporate.

G2 data shows searches for generative AI software have increased by 84 times since last year, and new tools impact 28,000 products. But as with any new tech category, like cell phones and computers, market leaders will emerge naturally, cutting out the noise from the less impactful products. Not all tools will survive.

“People were saying that generative AI is only going to grow, but with any of these hype statements, it is always important to go back to the data and understand what it is actually saying. What does the use really look like? What does ROI look like? What is happening with the software on the ground?” he suggested.

That view led Miller to dig into the data and conclude that maybe all of this software and these categories with generative AI will not stick around and might not have as big of an impact in the long run.