The Year Ahead: Techies Predict Trends

On Thursday, techies from across Africa and around the world put their heads together to analyze technology trends that will dominate 2023 at The Year Ahead Hybrid Forum.

The annual forum brings together experts to identify and talk about technologies that will make headway in the new year, and investments that have gone into those technologies. In this year’s event, experts, through panels, discussed how the 5G technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Machine Learning (ML), and cloud will shape 2023 and the issues around them.

Dx5 Chairman Harry Hare, who opened the forum, predicted heightened innovation this year owing to the large-scale rollout of AI and the competition between Microsoft and Google to advance the same to their customers.

“When companies start to compete for our eyeballs, we are going to see a lot of innovation,” he said.

He advised organizations to be on the lookout for developments in AI, 5G, IoT and blockchain and see if there are use cases they can incorporate into their operations.

Below are some more quotes from the forum:

AI is not a shortcut, but a tool that you should use. AI brings in the efficiency of doing tasks and reduces the time in delivery of products – Michael Michie, CTO, Solv.

The idea of AI is to do things that you cannot understand in plain eyesight John Kamara

Morality is personal, Ethics is when we share these principles and codify them. Ethics Is shared and cannot be personal – Francis Kamuyu, CIO, Multichoice Kenya.

We need to see more regulatory bodies give innovators an environment where they can test their applications to enhance this tech development – Erick Jackson, Co-Founder and CEO, Hisa App.

AI Cannot completely replace humans, it will complement human abilities – Dr Bright Gameli Cybersecurity, MARA.

“It’s normal for people to fear new technologies, all we have to do is try to incorporate these new technologies to complement what you’ve already been doing” – Raymond Maiyo, Co-Founder and CEO, Peercharge.

5G is more expensive than 4G in terms of deployment but it is more efficient because it carries more data – Gerishon Gitonga Head, Network, Planning and Design, Safaricom PLC.