Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2024.  Read them in this 16th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.

AI, Tech Jobs, and the Transformation of the E-Commerce Industry

While the past year has been a whirlwind of evolution and digital transformation – primarily driven by advancements in AI – tech leaders and companies are set to continue a rapid pace of transformation in 2024 as well.

As we look ahead, leaders at Algolia shared predictions of what to expect in 2024.

AI will streamline the software development process

The uptick in AI implementation is an exciting time for the software development industry, as developers have a tendency to immediately latch onto the latest and greatest technology that the field has to offer. Natwar Maheshwari, PLG Marketing Director at Algolia, says that AI is no different.

“Many of the time consuming tasks that developers currently do will soon become automated, making processes and tasks more streamlined, all while creating a level of speed and efficiency that we’ve never seen before. Additionally, for developers, understanding AI will eventually become a required skill. It’s critical that the industry continues to embrace this technology, and understand its benefits so that the pace of innovation can improve and allow developers to hone in on their specialities with the removal of tedious, repetitive tasks.”

AI won’t take tech jobs, it will create them

This past year has left many across the workforce wondering whether their jobs are soon to be obsolete as artificial intelligence continues to advance at such a rapid pace.

Sean Mullaney, Chief Technology Officer at Algolia, agrees that while there’s no doubt that many of today’s roles will look different in the future, the biggest fallacy around the technology is that AI is coming for anyone’s job.

“In 2024 and beyond, we’re actually more likely to see the exact opposite. Say, for instance, AI makes employees 40% more productive, which I don’t think is an unreasonable estimate. Business leaders are not going to then choose to fire 40% of their staff and continue making the same quantity of products at the same price. They’re going to make products cheaper and hire more people, as the ROI of hiring a single person for their output will be higher than ever before. Therefore, AI in the end will become a wonderful anti-inflationary measure and a force that catalyzes widespread job creation.”

Maheshwari also agrees with Mullaney’s positive outlook for AI and noted that while the industry is witnessing “developers working hard to learn and understand how AI works,” but that they’re “not learning about the technology because they’re scared that it will take their jobs, but because they’re so excited about it’s potential, which is the mindset we all need to have.”

AI will continue disrupting the retail and e-commerce spaces, but not how many imagine

Retailers expecting AI to be the magic bullet that will carry their numbers will be disappointed in 2024, according to Piyush Patel, Chief Strategic Business Development Officer at Algolia.

“Big dollars are being thrown around without the proper strategy in place to extract real value. That being said, those that focus on niche strategic areas – like productivity and search functionality – with the right plan in place will see progress and revenue impact.”

“For example, price watching sites will take shape as AI helps to ‘understand’ what a consumer is looking for and alert them in their normal workflow. This applies not only to the consumer, but to the associates in the retail consumer journey.”

“Additionally, assisted shopping systems that will empower the ‘stylist’ to help match desire with products will become more ubiquitous. As understanding improves in systems, various tasks will be augmented with AI that will help everyone in the path become more efficient. Shopping might even start to see what we in the technology space call ‘asynchronous’ – such as if a consumer bought a product 6 months ago and it usually needs to be refilled, the retailer can alert the consumer to a subscription offering in that timeframe.”

AI hype around AI is setting off alarms of a new doc-com bubble

For Mullaney and other veterans of the tech industry who were around for the doc-com bubble in the late 1990s, many are getting the same warning signs of a similar market that’s emerging and looking like it will continue to accelerate.

“Large language models are going to be a driving force behind this bubble as companies pour large sums into an already-strained chip supply chain to meet AI-fueled demands, but don’t be fooled: these chips will soon be completely useless. Companies would need to have hundreds of billions of revenue to actually sustain LLMs for the long-term. Only the largest – like Meta and Google – could emerge victorious, and they will take a “scorched-Earth” approach to ensure it.”