5 Tech Trends That Will Define 2018

                     5 Tech Trends That Will Define 2018

No one can predict how the future will shake out, but we can make some educated guesses.

Global design and strategy firm frog has shared with Business Insider its forecasts for the technologies that will define the upcoming year. Last year, the firm correctly predicted that buildings would harness the power of nature and that businesses would continue using artificially-intelligent bots to run efficiently.

Get ready to step into the future

Artificial intelligence will inspire how products are designed

Companies like Airbnb and Netflix already infuse AI into their products in a host of ways, generally to the customer's benefit.

Senior strategist Viral Shah and technology director Matteo Penzo believe 2018 will see far more companies centering their product design around the best use of AI.

"As AI becomes embedded into our products and services," they wrote, "designers are tasked not just with creating machines for humans, but creating machines that are human-like."

Other companies will join Google in the 'Algorithm Hall of Fame'

Google's PageRank feature — the search engine's ability to display the optimal results consistently at the top — may be the company's greatest achievement using algorithms.

Frog's principal solutions architect, Gonzalo Garcia-Perate, expects other companies to make similar leaps in 2018. They will join Google in the "Algorithm Hall of Fame," he wrote.

He said likely candidates include the first company to achieve full vehicle autonomy or create platforms to make universal basic income a possibility.

Virtual and augmented reality will become communal experiences

Right now, virtual reality is a pretty isolating experience. You put on a headset and immerse yourself in a world that only you inhabit.

Going forward, says frog visual designer Seth Mach, VR (and its cousin, augmented reality, or AR) will allow people to explore untold worlds together. They'll get to play, work, and explore communally — in alternate realities.

"Soon, instead of being lone travelers on our augmented and virtual journeys, we'll have friends along for the ride," he wrote.

Democracy will cozy up to the blockchain

Frog strategists Kristina Phillips and Sally Darby believe the rise of blockchain technology won't be limited to cryptocurrencies in 2018. They see it moving into much larger arenas of society, including government.

"Because it changes how votes are collected and minimizes the risk of fraud or manipulation, blockchain technology may be what helps more voices get heard in government matters and policy decisions," they wrote. "By the 2018 midterm elections, we may just see an end to paper ballots altogether."

Augmented reality will invite questions about intellectual property

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Physical works of art are the property of their creators, but with augmented reality enabling consumers to add infinite changes, frog strategist Kristina Phillips wonders how this will change the nature of intellectual property in 2018.

"Enter a new age in contemporary art, one where people can express themselves collaboratively in the digital and physical realm," she wrote. "Think mixed-media taken to a whole new dimension, one where people not only have access to public art, but the expectation they can add their own signature without leaving a mark."