MIT Technology Review has released its annual list of the year’s most important technological breakthroughs which is a useful peek into a potential future.
We have prepared a summary list of the top tech below:
1. Messenger RNA vaccines. mRNA tech has been worked on for the past 20 years and most notably is the core of the Covid-19 vaccines that have been developed.
2. GPT-3. Open AI’s crowning achievement is trained on millions of parameters and is the largest and most accurate NLP system that’s been developed so far.
3. TikTok recommendation algorithms. The algorithms underlying the success of the app are unique in that they often select content from obscure creators and are very good at delivering relevant content to niches of users.
4. Lithium metal batteries. Unlike their lithium-ion cousin, lithium-metal batteries being developed by QuantumScape, according to early test results, could boost the range of an EV by 80% and can be rapidly recharged.
5. Data trusts. A data trust is a legal entity that collects and manages people’s personal data. A work in progress, data trusts offer a potential solution to long-standing problems in privacy and security.
6. Green hydrogen. Hydrogen created by electrolysis is clean and efficient as compared to traditional methods involving natural gas.
7. Digital contract tracing. Learning from failure is certainly a path forward, and is definitely the potential case for such tracing. We have to learn lessons from its failures re Covid-19 and apply them to the next virus as well as health care in general.
8. Hyper-accurate positioning. Think GPS but accurate within a few inches…GPS III is the new wave of satellite-based positioning tech.
9. Remote everything. This one goes with saying since we are all basically living it. From telehealth to online education, this ain’t going anywhere anytime soon.
10. Multi-skilled AI. General artificial intelligence that can emulate human intelligence has been an elusive goal, but ‘multisense’ AI that combines tech like computer vision, audio recognition, NLP etc. may get us closer to the endzone.
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