A Year-End Wrap-Up: What We Learned About AI in 2024

By Jorge Garcia

 

Image by Gert Altmann (Pixabay)


“By far, the greatest danger of Artificial Intelligence is that people

conclude too early that they understand it.”


—Eliezer Yudkowsky


As we are rapidly approaching the end of the year, it is time to reflect on the remarkable advancements and trends that have shaped the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) during 2024.

From groundbreaking breakthroughs to widespread adoption across industries, AI has continued to transform our world in ways both expected and surprising and this 2024 has been a pivotal one for AI.

With considerable progress in various domains, and a growing integration of AI technologies into our daily lives and business operations, as we look back, several key themes emerge that highlight the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence.

So, let us take a moment to address some of the major advancements we had witnessed through this 2024.

Generative AI Reaches New Heights


Generative AI has been at the forefront of the AI innovation in 2024.

Built upon the foundation laid by models like GPT-3.5, the release of GPT-4 has pushed the boundaries of what's possible in natural language processing and generation and, with a rumored parameter count exceeding 200 billion, GPT-4 has demonstrated unprecedented language understanding and generation capabilities, finding applications in content creation, customer support, and virtual assistants across a vast number of industry and business sectors.

Multimodal AI Emerges as a Potential Game-Changer


Another significant trend of 2024 has been the rise of the so-called multimodal AI systems.

These advanced models can process and generate content across different modalities including text, images, and audio. This breakthrough is opening the door to new possibilities for AI applications, enabling more sophisticated and versatile tools that can manage tasks that involve analyzing images and understanding spoken instructions, enhancing AI’s complex problem-solving capabilities.

AI in Scientific Discovery and Environmental Management


As with many other areas, AI also made substantial contributions to scientific research and environmental management in 2024, positioning itself at the center of an increasing number of scientific discoveries and innovations in these areas.

Some notable new projects and developments include:
  • Geo-Llama: An advanced AI model for generating realistic simulations of human movement in urban settings, valuable for research in transportation, urban planning, and public health1.
  • FireSat: A collaboration between Google Research and the U.S. Forest Service, using AI and satellite imagery to detect and track wildfires more efficiently, potentially saving lives and resources.
  • GraphCast: An AI model developed in the trenches of Google DeepMind that predicts weather conditions up to 10 days in advance with greater accuracy and speed than traditional methods, including improved predictions for cyclones and associated risks.

Advancements in AI for Mathematics and Reasoning


2024 also saw considerable progress in AI's ability to tackle complex mathematical problems as well as its deepening ‘learning’ and ‘comprehension’ skills.

One example is Google DeepMind's AlphaGeometry, which combined with AlphaProof, demonstrated the capability to solve geometry problems at a level approaching human Olympiad gold-medalists.

Both were able to solve four out of six problems from the 2024 International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) and achieved silver medal performance, scoring twenty-eight out of forty-two points while AlphaGeometry 2 was able to solve 83% of historical IMO geometry problems from the past 25 years.

Another example is OpenAI's "o1" model, a new state-of-the-art model that introduces advanced reasoning features such as chain-of-thought reasoning capabilities running on limited hardware while maintaining solid performance in basic language understanding and generation tasks.

The new model also improves performance on the IMO qualifying exam from 13% to 83% as well as demonstrating ability in chip design, airfoil optimization, and scientific problem-solving.

These advancements highlight AI's growing capacity for complex mathematical reasoning and problem-solving, bringing us closer to systems that can potentially discover and verify new knowledge in mathematics and complex science.

AI Regulation and Ethical Considerations



2024 has also seen a growing interest in the development of proper frameworks aimed to ensure a more responsible development and deployment of AI-based solutions. These frameworks reflect efforts to address, decrease or eliminate issues such as bias, privacy, and potential damaging impact of AI technologies on our society.

One example of these efforts is the AI Act passed by the European Union, the first comprehensive legal framework for the use and development of AI.

 This landmark legislation takes a comprehensive approach to AI to:
  • Address risks created by AI applications.
  • Prohibit those AI practices posing unacceptable risks.
  • Determine high-risk AI applications.
  • Set clear requirements for high-risk AI systems to be secure.
  • Define obligations for both deployers and providers.
  • Require conformity assessments before market entry of AI-based applications.
  • Establish governance structures both at European and national levels.

These and other frameworks make it clear that, as AI continues to permeate within many aspects of society, and our lives, the need for regulation and ethical guidelines keeps becoming increasingly important.

AI Literacy and Public Awareness

Image by Gert Altmann (Pixabay)

The rapid advancement of AI in recent years has come with a parallel push to also improve and promote AI literacy among the general public.

Aside from important initiatives made already public such as the ones from UNESCO, or AI4K12.org, some others have were launched in 2024 to promote individuals to truly and critically evaluate AI technologies, understand their implications and applying them effectively and responsibly.

Some of these include:

  • Two U.S. Government initiatives which, while not fully implemented, recognize the growing demand for increasing AI literacy, these are:
    • The Consumers LEARN AI Act, which would allocate $50 million each fiscal year from 2025 to 2030 for an AI literacy campaign
    • A bipartisan bill requiring the Department of Commerce to launch an AI public awareness campaign, focusing on the benefits, risks, and prevalence of AI in daily life
  • The CanCode Program Renewal. A Canadian government program in its fourth phase with a focus on AI literacy.
  • The NAMLE’s AI Literacy Initiative. 

This growing emphasis on AI education reflects technology’s increasing importance in everyday life and the need for informed public discourse on its development and use.

A Brief Discussion


Just like in the last couple of years, the evolution of AI during 2024 has been nothing short of remarkable.

Events like the leap from GPT-3.5 to GPT-4, for instance, represent a huge jump into the exploration of natural language processing capabilities, will carry far-reaching implications for the way we interact and will in the future, with machines, devices, and even between ourselves and the way we will process from now on.

Similarly, the evolution of multimodal AI systems will mark a significant step towards more human-like AI that can seamlessly integrate and combine several types of data formats and outputs to extend the reach of AI-human interaction and communication. However, …

A word of caution


This fast/paced progress in AI is also bringing challenges.

The rapid pace of the evolution and progress of AI development are outstripping our ability to fully understand and regulate all its impact into society.

While AI systems become more sophisticated and autonomous, there are an increasing number of questions regarding accountability, privacy, and the potential for misuse, which are becoming more pressing every day.

Moreover, the incremental integration of AI into different critical areas including scientific research, environmental management, as well as logistics and global supply chains highlight at the same time enormous potential AI has, but also need for guarantying careful oversight.

While AI-driven applications in these fields could lead to significant breakthroughs, we must also be mindful of the potential risks of over-reliance on AI systems, embedded biases or simply put, errors that could easily be propagated across scientific and decision-making processes.

A big push towards promoting AI literacy as well as public awareness is a crucial part of the development of AI that we need to take, so that as AI becomes more pervasive, users and public, in general, can rely on the tools, information, education and knowledge to understand, critically evaluate, and engage with AI technologies.

Education and AI awareness will be key to ensuring that the development and deployment of AI aligns with societal values and needs.

The Bottom Line


As we conclude 2024, there is no doubt that AI has made significant advances across several fronts, from the impressive new capabilities of large language models and the potential incorporation of multimodal AI to the practical applications of AI in scientific research, the field of AI continues to expand and evolve at a fast pace.

However, it is important to note that as AI becomes more powerful and ubiquitous, the need for thoughtful regulation, ethical considerations, and public engagement will only need to grow and adapt.
 The challenge for 2025 and beyond will be to find the balance between harnessing the immense potential of AI while, at the same time, ensuring its development remains aligned with human values and societal well-being.

As we can foresee the beginning of a new era in AI, one thing is certain: the field of AI will continue to surprise, challenge, and inspire us in the years to come.

Looking ahead and based on the trends we have observed this year, we can say that it all points to an exciting and challenging future for AI.

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