Generative AI, cloud computing and security top tech trends to watch in 2023, Alibaba academy says
- Innovation driven by the advancement of technologies and their industry-specific application has become an irreversible trend, Alibaba Damo Academy head says
- Alibaba Cloud is seen as one of the most important growth drivers for the tech giant
In a report published on Wednesday, the academy also identified trends such as pre-trained multimodal foundation models, chiplets, processing in memory, hardware-software integrated cloud computing architecture, predictable fabric based on edge-cloud synergy, computational imaging, as well as large-scale urban digital twins.
“Looking towards 2023 … the wide application of technologies will facilitate the roll-out of AI and other digital technologies in vertical markets, and promote the collaboration of public and private sectors and individuals in security technology and security management,” said Jeff Zhang, head of the academy. “The innovation driven by the advancement of technologies and their industry-specific application has become an irreversible trend.”
The forecast involved analysing public papers and patent filings over the past three years, and conducting interviews with almost 100 scientists, entrepreneurs and engineers worldwide, said Damo, whose parent Alibaba also owns the South China Morning Post.
02:19
‘Even great companies failed’: A gallery at the Consumer Electronics Show celebrates tech failures
“In the next three years, we will see business models emerging and ecosystems maturing as generative AI becomes widely marketised,” the Damo report said. “Generative AI models will be more interactive, secure and intelligent, assisting human beings to complete various creative work.”
Chinese gadget makers embrace new IoT standard to ease security concerns
Dual-engine decision intelligence aims to overcome the limitations of traditional decision-making, such as handling problems with great uncertainties and its slow response to large-scale problems. The inclusion of machine learning in decision optimisation improves the speed and quality of decision making.
Pre-trained multimodal foundation models, another trend forecast by Damo, can acquire knowledge from different modalities and present the knowledge based on a unified representation learning framework. Chiplet-based design allows manufacturers to break down a system on a chip (SoC) into multiple chiplets, manufacture the chiplets separately by using different processes, and finally integrating them into an SoC through interconnects and packaging.
Processing in Memory technology is the integration of a central processing unit and memory on a single chip, which allows data to be directly processed in memory. Hardware-software integrated cloud computing architecture helps to accelerate cloud applications while maintaining high elasticity and agility for cloud application development.
China’s smartphone industry to remain under pressure in 2023, analysts say
Custom silicon and purpose-built chips were identified in a separate forecast by Amazon Web Services as among the top five technology trends of 2023. An open standard for semiconductor architecture called RISC-V – or “risk-five” – will be one of the biggest technology trends to watch this year, MIT said.
Cloud Infrastructure Processor will become “the de facto standard of next-generation cloud computing and bring new development opportunities for core software [research and development] and dedicated chip design”, the report said.
Cloud-native security “will become more versatile and can adapt more easily to multi-cloud architectures” in the next three to five years, according to the report. “It will also become more conducive to building security systems that are dynamic, end-to-end, precise and applicable to hybrid environments,” the report said.
China’s data market development to help achieve ‘common prosperity’
Predictable fabric aims to offer high-performance network services. Computational imaging uses mathematical models and signal-processing capabilities in contrast with traditional imaging techniques. Large-scale urban digital twins, a new approach to refined city governance, has made major progress in scenarios such as traffic governance, natural disaster prevention and management, carbon peaking and neutrality.
Alibaba Cloud is seen as one of the most important growth drivers for Alibaba. Last month, Daniel Zhang Yong, Alibaba’s chairman and chief executive, took over as head of the company's cloud subsidiary, following a 24-hour-long system failure in its Hong Kong and Macau operations in December.
