'the 17th annual edition of Tech Trends'. 'For 17 years, Tech Trends has explored emerging technologies poised to reshape business in the next 18 to 24 months.' Five trend chapters (entries 1-5) and a closing chapter, 'Cutting through the noise: Tech signals worth tracking as AI advances', with eight signals (entries 6-13). Deloitte on the signals: 'Signals aren’t predictions. They’re observations of forces already in motion'; they 'didn’t make the cut for full chapters'. Numbers in the signals section are third-party projections cited by Deloitte and are not recorded as values. The executive summary opens: 'Last year’s Tech Trends report predicted that artificial intelligence would become akin to electricity ... This year’s report ... proves that hypothesis.' The introduction ('Innovation compounds') is not a trend. published from the edition page (10 December 2025).
Over the coming 18 to 24 months, resolving these foundational issues will likely enable physical AI and robotics to expand beyond traditional industries.
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Leading organizations are adopting agent-first process redesign, implementing multiagent orchestration using emerging protocols, and treating agents as a silicon-based workforce requiring specialized management frameworks.
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Leading enterprises are adopting strategic hybrid architectures: cloud for variable workloads, on-premises for consistent production inference, and edge for latency-critical applications.
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Future tech organizations will feature agentic architectures, lean product-led teams, blended human-agent workforces, adaptive governance, and ecosystem-oriented innovation.
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AI creates a cybersecurity paradox: The same capabilities driving business innovation are also introducing new risks.
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How well businesses deploy, fine-tune, and integrate AI into redesigned processes will likely matter more than having the latest foundation model.
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Those with access to fresh information—real-time user interactions, proprietary business data, breaking research— have the advantage.
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This is a fundamental shift already in motion.
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The winning form factor—if one emerges at all—remains undetermined, with success dependent on addressing privacy concerns and delivering functionality that justifies carrying an additional device.
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The future points toward hybrid approaches where biometrics serve as the primary but not exclusive verification method.
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Truly capable personal AI assistants require unprecedented access to personal data—and that access is already being granted.
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The race is on to appear in AI-generated answers— a shift from search engine optimization (SEO) to generative engine optimization (GEO).
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Widespread adoption of neuromorphic computing is expected by 2030.
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