25 experts predict how AI will change business and life in 2025
Expect to see the rise of AI agents and multimodal models, along with an end to “AI theater.”
BY Mark Sullivan
[Source Photo: Getty Images]
The so-called AI boom has been going on for more than two years now, and 2024 saw a real acceleration in both the development and the application of the technology. Expectations are high that AI will move beyond just generating text and images and morph into agents that can complete complex tasks on behalf of users. But that’s just one of many directions in which AI might move in 2025. We asked a variety of AI experts and other stakeholders a simple question: “In what ways do you think AI will have changed personal, business, or digital life by this time next year?” Here’s what 25 of them said. (The quotes have been edited for clarity and length.)
Charles Lamanna, Corporate Vice President, Business and Industry Copilot at Microsoft:
“By this time next year, you’ll have a team of agents working for you. This could look like anything from an IT agent fixing tech glitches before you even notice them, a supply chain agent preventing disruptions while you sleep, sales agents breaking down silos between business systems to chase leads, and finance agents closing the books faster.”
Andi Gutmans, VP/GM of Databases, Google Cloud:
“2025 is the year where dark data lights up. The majority of today’s data sits in unstructured formats such as documents, images, videos, audio, and more. AI and improved data systems will enable businesses to easily process and analyze all of this unstructured data in ways that will completely transform their ability to reason about and leverage their enterprise-wide data.”
Megh Gautam, Chief Product Officer, Crunchbase:
“In 2025, AI investments will shift decisively from experimentation to execution. Companies will abandon generic AI applications in favor of targeted solutions that solve specific, high-value business problems. We’ll see this manifest in two key areas. First, the rise of AI agents—Agentic AI—handling routine but complex operational tasks. Secondly, the widespread adoption of AI tools that drive measurable improvements in core business metrics, particularly in sales optimization and customer support automation.”
Brendan Burke, Senior Analyst, Emerging Technology, Pitchbook:
“A private AI company will surpass a $100 billion valuation, becoming a centicorn along with OpenAI,” Burke writes in Pitchbook’s 2025 Enterprise Software Outlook. “Leading AI companies are growing to the point where this premium revenue multiple can push their valuations over $100 billion, contributing a $17 billion market for generative AI software in 2024.” (Burke lists Anthropic, CoreWeave, and Databricks as candidates for centicorn status in 2025.)
Dr. Rajeeb Hazra, President & CEO, Quantinuum:
“Looking ahead, quantum computing will begin to play a critical role in AI’s evolution…
