22 Predictions for the Tech Landscape in 2022

What. A. Year. in January, and in December. … and . , but at least . , and then . Bernie ; Cruz… . , then . We discovered that , but that a . The Evergiven , while we got . , just as . There was an , and made me heave. Someone at Facebook , and . . , but . — and . The United States Capitol was stormed storms tore through the States Elon Tweeted Trump didn’t A Surfside condominium went down meme stocks went up You worked from home lived from work got dressed for winter not so much Texas froze water caught fire a lawyer is not a cat Doge is a coin got stuck in the Suez canal needles stuck in our arms Simone Biles pulled out of Tokyo the US did the same in Afghanistan upheaval in Haiti Nicki’s cousin’s friend’s balls blew a whistle Zuckerberg blew the Metaverse out of proportion Millions tried to find a better place on Earth while billionaires tried to leave it Chauvin was jailed Britney was set free Climate changed COVID mutated History has always rhymed; in 2021, it did so faster than ever. But we’ve made it. And though many ( ) of my predictions for , , and have fallen flat, there are two reasons why you should keep reading this article. Firstly… it’s fun! Secondly, because . Above all, articles such as this one can act as catalysts to steer the conversation in the right direction. . but not all 2021 2020 2019 , 2018 the knowledge gained through planning for the future is crucial to the selection of appropriate actions as events unfold We don’t know the answers, but we can at least ask useful questions 1. Space Race 2.0 Leads to Unprecedented Innovation The “original” space race led to a wide array of inventions and innovations becoming available to the wider public. , , … they all started as a way to shame the Soviets, the Americans, or both. Wireless headsets, the computer mouse, LED lighting, portable cordless vacuums freeze-dried foods, air purifiers, memory foam scratch-resistant eyeglass lenses, solar cells In 2022, this toxic tradition will live on. We will continue to see Branson, Bezos, and Musk avoid seeing a psychologist by sending increasingly large phallic objects into space. And for all their misgivings ( ), these billionaires are absolutely leading the way for a new technological revolution that will trickle down to customers over the next decade. oh god, so many misgivings 2. NFT “Art” Continues to Disappoint Intensely so. NFTs are stupid. Scoreboard: they create a sense of scarcity where there is none. . They aim to put a price on pieces of our common culture to benefit the rich. They digitalize real life when we already spend far too much online. . Creating and selling NFTs costs money… and is also costing us our environment. And finally, NFTs’ underlying technology isn’t even as decentralized as advertised. Copyright laws do not support their existence Long-term ownership is impossible because the technology to back it up should have never left the Proof-of-Concept stage My theory? . This is not to say that parts of the underlying technology (namely, blockchain) are not interesting. They are and will lead to grand innovations. But millions of young men in their mom’s basement are currently barking up the wrong tree. NFT Art is just a fad and will continue to be a disappointment in 2022 3. Cryptocurrencies Grow Up Cryptocurrencies, on the other hand, are very much fungible, and… kind of useful? And the industry within which they evolve is quickly growing up thanks, in part, to wider blockchain attention and adoption. — We’re seeing stablecoins becoming alternative stores of value that even the European Parliament is . We’re also hearing rumblings about , secure money transfers, royalties tracking, making it difficult to launder money… many things that have been discussed for nearly a decade but never truly materialized. IF regulations are able to kill off crypto’s Ponzi-scheme tendencies. willing to write about access to early stages investments In 2022, this trend will gain in strength Indeed, we shall not be blind to the darkness surrounding the cryptocurrency environment — , and 2021’s “get rich quick” mentality has set the industry back years. scams still abound 4. Spotify Creates AI-Generated Music Spotify has succeeded where many of its predecessors had failed: . In doing so, it has acquired a mountain of data: what demographics listen to what songs, what gets searched, paused, favorited, skipped, shuffled, in what context… All in all, . No artist, recording company, or news aggregator can compete with this amount of raw information. it managed to reduce the world’s entire audio experience to one app more than 100 billion data points are created every day on the platform This data will be needed to create something that has evaded us for decades: , created not through human ingenuity but through algorithms. , with various levels of success. With Apple Music , Spotify will have to innovate. Hard. Much like Netflix is winning the streaming wars through the creation of its own content, so will Spotify create its own artists, songs, and bands. Real ones, at first, but I believe it’d be too good to pass on the opportunity to have algorithmically created music, specifically tailored to match every listener’s taste. decent artificially generated music This has already been theorized and tested fresh on its heels 5. Nike or Apple Buy Peloton COVID brought Peloton fame and fortune. and brought it to its knees. , and no dead cat bounce will save it. . Dead children predators The stock is in free fall (-75% this year) It will be purchased by a better-managed company in 2022 There are two obvious candidates to acquire it: Nike is already the go-to brand for people who like sport, money, and like to show it — which is Peloton’s entire brand identity as I understand it. The company is also highly invested into and , but having a hard time organically creating anything resembling Peloton’s fanaticism. Such an acquisition could also help Nike find and attract new, well-off clients. experiences community Apple, on the other hand, knows premium and hardware better than anyone else in the world. The company is also increasingly getting into ; this acquisition would help sell more Apple watches and further solidify the entire ecosystem within which Apple customers will soon be evolving ( ). The brand is also highly trusted, which would help restore Peloton’s faltering image. the business of health The Appleverse? 6. Big Money Goes into AR / VR Hardware VCs and Facebook . They’re investing so much money into it, they might just will it into existence just to spite the nay-sayers. want us to believe that the Metaverse will create untold wealth Whatever the Metaverse ends up looking like, it will not (only) be built on code. It will (also) be built on AR / VR sensors, cameras, and headsets. Sensors that make you feel touched if someone squeezes your… arm online. Cameras that see if you’re in a horrid mood so that the AI doesn’t bother you too much. Headsets that feel the sun around you and project a summer day in the digital world for added realism. And that’s not even getting into the boring stuff, such as inertial measurement units, visual light cameras, depth cameras to help with tracking, mapping, and localization… This will all amount to some serious cash being made. In 2022, the big Metaverse winners will be the hardware makers. 7. Cameras are Installed in AirPods We buy iPhones and AirPods because we believe it’ll help us get laid. I will take no further questions on the matter. Facebook’s Oculus, on the other hand, has the exact opposite effect; it’s clunky, goofy, heavy… there is no way people willingly show it off in public. If they did, we’d know about it. But the “Metaverse” is nevertheless being built, and we will need adequate tools to access it. I believe Apple will be the ones to provide them, by creating the first real alternative to the Oculus. It will do so by implanting cameras in Airpods and promising to pair them with . Apple Glasses — which do not exist… yet Apple is trusted and knows hardware better than anyone — much better than Facebook, whose core business is to your conspiracy-minded aunt. . selling adverts 2022 is the year Apple realizes this and continues its ongoing war with Facebook on a different battlefield 8. The Keyboard Begins to Die The keyboard is a relic of a time long gone. At some point in the past, we decided that OG computers and typewriters should have a baby, PCs were born, and we never truly reconsidered how they should look ( ). which is staggering given Silicon Valley’s compulsive need to “disrupt” But the future needs not look like the past, and we could today do away with the keyboard entirely. We could use a stylus, stick to touchscreen, use projectors, or even verbal commands. The possibilities are many, and I believe they are worth exploring. Others will too. I will miss the soothing sound of keys being battered at in coffee shops, trains and offices. . In 2022, that sound will begin to fade 9. Block or Salesforce Buy Twitter Jack Dorsey never really liked Twitter. It’s obvious . And because of this decade-long mismanagement, the company never updated its business models, and as such, is not making nearly as much money as the space it occupies in the popular discourse warrants. he’d rather use it than run it Twitter, however, has a lot of value as an attention-grabber. As an entertainer. The kind of attention it generates could be a powerful force for the right actor. I see two possible acquirers who could be willing to dish out $35B for the blue bird ( ): seems like a lot but would hardly rank the transaction in the top 10 of the past 2 years Block: the company is owned by Jack Dorsey, who knows Twitter better than anyone else. It’s composed of half a dozen companies bent on bringing about the future of FinTech. Having Twitter join the roster could ensure they have a social media platform on which to test their ideas. Salesforce: having bought Slack, Salesforce will be looking to strengthen its social chops, noticing that Customer Relationship Management requires… relations; the types social media was created to improve. In 2022, one of these two companies will buy Twitter. 10. Synthetic Biology Becomes Commercial You know how nature is cool? Well, we’re trying to come up with something that’s even cooler: FAKE nature. And we’ll sell it, too. Hurrah for capitalism! Glib aside, synthetic biology is a big deal: it helps the realm of biology ( ), bioinformatics, mathematics, chemistry, biotechnology, engineering… For the past few years, a lot of this has been theoretical, but have begun thinking about bringing their wares to the public. obviously many start-ups I … all made using synthetic biology science. n 2022, companies will start commercializing renewable chemicals, materials / fabrics / fibers, alternative plastics, fertilizer, “alternative pharma”, biofuels & Oils, Protein and feed 11. Algae Tech Continues to Fascinate The coolest use of synthetic biology is , which has the potential to help us optimize many industries while reducing existing energy use, costs, and environmental damage. Algal Biotechnology One of the key industries for this technology is food commercial markets, which will be well served by ingredients and products derived from microalgal biomass. Algae has a comparatively small environmental impact as it needs less water, less land, and less pesticide. Another is the pharmaceutical market: we are far (very far) from having characterized the full range of algae out there, and some of them are sure to have useful medicinal potential. Algae also have the potential to be an economically viable feedstock for bioplastics production while ensuring minimal environmental impact and lower production costs In 2022, we will realize the technology used to improve algae production is key in overcoming challenges and limitations that conventional industries will face in the years ahead. 12. Computer Vision is Everywhere, Thanks to YOLO Real-time object detection is a technique used to detect objects from video. It’s the underlying technology behind… well, most things we want to use in the future, from Tesla’s self-driving cars to Amazon’s cashier-less stores. The YOLO (“You Only Look Once”) models refer to some of the most versatile and famous . real-time object detection and labeling models The latest iteration (V5) of the model is worthy of this list for a couple of reasons. It’s written in PyTorch, which will make its deployment to mobile a lot easier. It’s also quick. Very quick. while also preserving accuracy. Finally, YOLOv5 is nearly 90 percent smaller than YOLOv4. This means it will be deployed to embedded devices much more easily. 140 frames per second quick This innovation is important because it means that — detecting and labeling videos 140 times per second. For context, previous models struggled to get to 10 frames per second. At this speed, you can use AI on videos of fields as varied as the world of medicine or that of sport. It can also improve things like detecting obstacles in autonomous cars earlier to avoid even more collisions. in 2022, we will be able to do real real-time analysis 13. Deepfake Videos Topple an S&P500 CEO Better computer vision often means better deepfakes. And the latter is by the public, and companies don’t have the proper tools to fight them. becoming way too easy to make As such, it’s only a matter of time before a video emerges of . That video will be fake, but it won’t matter as social algorithms are tuned to make controversial content spread faster than truths. The unlucky executives’ stock will tank before the truth comes out. Once the flood gates have opened… we’ll all be at risk. a CEO doing something ungodly to a pig 14. Folding Phones are Cool Again Folding phones , and they’re somehow managing to be both retro and futurist. have been making a come-back , and it may make sense for them to push this strategic advantage further. Premium phones are getting “better”… but bigger. A lot bigger while not necessarily being better for a large part of the population ( ). Proposing a slightly less powerful tool that still fits in a pocket is a trade-off many will consider… once the kinks are worked out. Samsung is dominating this space at the moment does everyone REALLY care about being able to zoom X15? I don’t know what they’ll add to my life, but I intend on finding and buying one in 2022, so it goes in this list. . I believe folding phones will go mainstream 15. Self-Driving Causes Mayhem We’ve been hearing about self-driving a lot in 2021. Elon Musk made sure of it. What we haven’t spoken enough about is the environment within which autonomous cars will evolve. Let’s no longer put a pin in that and make three things very clear: The laws aren’t ready The people aren’t ready The streets aren’t ready Even if is reached, it’s likely that we will never fully replace the cars as we know it. Indeed, combustion engines are so central to our daily lives that changing them may mean rebuilding most of our daily world: parking would become less important, charging stations would change, the ways pedestrians interact with safer roads would be forever altered… level 5 In 2022, we’ll launch cars in environments that are not ready for them, causing a lot of unnecessary suffering. 16. Smart Cars Get Hacked by Smart Chargers The car industry as we know it is dead. Before long, electric vehicles will be in the majority, and politicians who know what’s good for them ( ) will fast-track investments in fast/smart chargers throughout developed nations. and their children The issue with those chargers is that they carry information to ensure the battery isn’t harmed during charging. Now, I don’t know much about cyber-security, but I do know that if a device can carry harmless information from point A to point B, it’s possible to hack it. . This will be patched, but it will make big waves, further slowing down the adoption of this much-needed innovation. In 2022, white/black hat hackers will show that it’s possible to get control of parts of a smart car by going through smart chargers 17. COVID’s Third-Degree Impacts Change the Tech world You know what happened last time we had a “once-in-a-lifetime” economic crisis? . As such, it’s very likely that tech giants will emerge from the pandemic crisis. Venture Capitalists are well aware of this, which is why they’re — they don’t want to miss the next Uber. Uber and Airbnb were created investing so much in grocery delivery services But it’s not that easy to predict future markets, and innovations will surely come out of an unexpected place. Let’s take a simple example: staying at home is a first-degree impact of the COVID crisis. Delivery growth is thus a second-degree impact. A third-degree impact would be our kitchens getting smaller, because we cook less, so now we have more space for sports equipment. Following that (terrible) logic, the wise investment would be in-home sporting goods. It’s a silly example but highlights well that the next innovation never comes from the most expected place. In 2022, . we will once more be reminded of this 18. Mental Health-Tech Becomes Bigger Than Ed-Tech HealthTech and EdTech are both SO 2020. The pandemic that hasn’t been talked about enough over the past 2 years is . More suicide, more depression, more anxiety… as things get better in 2022 ( ), we will have to face the hurt that we’ve hidden from for too long while we barely got through the 2020/21 tunnel. And that’s just part of it: we’re yet to find out how many will grieve the loss of more than a year of their lives. the mental health crisis sweeping through all nations fingers crossed That’s where Mental Health Tech ( ) comes in. . Meth-Tech? In 2021, the number of people seeing a psychologist will skyrocket, leading to an improvement in society over the long term 19. Sleep Tech Startups Become Unicorn I haven’t slept well in about 2 years. I guess the same goes for many people. COVID, wars, politics, climate change… It’s hard to fully give oneself to Morpheus embrace when the horsemen of the apocalypse are running circles in our heads. It affects all of us, and as such, the cost of bad sleep to the economy is astronomical ( ). If a company manages to offer large companies and countries a way to reduce that number by 20%, while taking a mere 1% cut, they’d be making the same amount as… $411B a year in the US alone I believe I’m far from the only one who’s made this realization. This is why, . in 2022, we’ll see start-ups reach the status of unicorn by promising us a rest that has evaded us for years 20. Circularity Tech Becomes Bigger Than Web 3.0 Circularity is a word we’re not hearing enough in the tech industry, which is upsetting given the dire need we have for it. Reusing, sharing, repairing, refurbishing, remanufacturing, and recycling are all verbs we must become much more familiar with in the future if we want to have a future. Flashy tweets, long speeches, and fancy marketing campaigns around new disruptions and paradigms only serve a handful of powerful millionaires. Building closed-loop systems to minimize the creation of waste, pollution and carbon emissions is how we wrestle control of the world back from them. . In 2022, governments and consumers alike will join hand in creating tools and systems to do more… with less 21. Tech Wrestles With Ethical Questions . In 2022, Big Tech will continue to wrestle with important questions Questions like “Do we want to continue spying on billions of people?”, “Should we treat our employees like humans?”, “Is inciting genocide OK?”, “Should we continue providing technology to authoritarian governments?”, “Is working for the military really what this company should be doing?” The answers seem obvious, but maybe that’s just me. 22. Hope In 2022, Tech will continue to help reduce infant mortality, deaths from infectious disease and wealth inequalities between the poorest and wealthiest nations. Great medical advances will be made, education will be further democratized, and green technologies will emerge as a long-term force for good. . We’ll be OK A lot of the above might seem harmful to society. It is nevertheless paramount to remember that technology is both created, implemented, and shaped by all of us, and that we have a very real say in how it affects us. This may be as small as sending a disapproving message to a corporation on Twitter, or as big as voting a politician out of office when they do not have our best interest at heart. Our actions matter, and . it’s up to us to ensure that these predictions either do or don’t become a reality Good luck out there.