If 2023 marked AI’s breakthrough, then 2024 signalled its dominance, both in terms of hype and development.
No technology topic was discussed more at major tech conferences, in press releases, or even by politicians than artificial intelligence, especially the various forms of GenAI and large language models.
We’ve seen a whole host of new AI launches, with Cisco, Salesforce, and even Amazon jumping aboard the AI train. Meanwhile, industry leaders such as OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google have all rolled out new products and unveiled new partnerships.
There were also signs of a shift in AI technology as more and more firms revealed “agentic” models—AI agents designed to serve users by automating mind-numbing processes or handling elements such as customer services.
Three years after the public launch of ChatGPT overturned our understanding of AI, it doesn’t appear to be losing momentum… meaning 2025 could bring even more exciting developments.
Perhaps no other tech company has had a better year than chipmaker Nvidia, which has positioned itself at the forefront of the AI revolution.
Once a relatively modest chipset maker known for its graphic processing units (GPU), Nvidia has metamorphosised into one of the world’s most valuable public companies.
It has partnerships with all the big AI players, including Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI, and the company’s value has almost doubled in the last 12 months.
Can Nvidia’s incredible success last? Several factors favour leather jacket-wearing enthusiast CEO Jensen Huang and his firm. This year, Nvidia unveiled its new computing architecture, Blackwell, which is specifically designed for AI, positioning it to benefit even further from the AI boom.
However, one negative is on the horizon — China has just announced an antitrust probe in an escalation of its tech war with the US.
2024 was a massive year for major events, including the UEFA European Championships in Germany and a spate of major elections worldwide. However, no event was bigger than the 2024 Olympic Games held in Paris over the summer.
A record-breaking 12.1 million tickets were sold for the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, which saw athletes compete in more than 329 events across 32 sports in a three-week stint.
Logistically, the games were a huge challenge for the organisers of the International Olympic Committee and the French Government.
The event got off to an auspicious start when a sabotage attack damaged several rail networks. Though these were denied, there were also reports of blackouts and attacks on telecom infrastructure.
Deepfakes and cyber-attacks: How the Paris 2024 Olympics became a hotspot for digital warfare
Orange, the IOC’s broadcast and connectivity partner, supported the entire event. Orange provided a private 5G network throughout Paris to power the games.
The 5G network provided capacity across 32 spots and 120 official sites across the city and was made available for broadcasters and teams on the ground, as well as spectators visiting Paris.
According to the telco, around 20,000 photos were transferred on its network in the first week of the Games alone.
Orange also supported the opening ceremony by providing 5G smartphones, which were used to live broadcast the parade down the River Seine.
The French incumbent has since revealed a partnership with the French postal service to give new life to network equipment used during the games.
Beginning in 2025, around 90% of the Wi-Fi terminals and 78% of the switches from the Olympic sites will be refurbished and installed at La Poste’s locations in France.
A controversial pick now — and they don’t come much more controversial than Tesla owner, SpaceX boss, and soon-to-be US government consultant/DOGE chief, Elon Musk.
To say it has been an outright fantastic year for the billionaire wouldn’t really be accurate — no single person in tech has generated more headlines than Musk in 2024, though not all have been positive.
Musk has certainly faced numerous challenges, including questions about his proposed pay, the performance of his social media platform Twitter/X, and disputes with regulators in regions from Brazil to Europe.
However, one major decision looks set to pay off handsomely: his call to throw his considerable might behind Donald Trump’s re-election campaign.
For Musk, Trump’s win in November means he is now arguably one of the most powerful non-politicians on the planet. The incoming President is set to hand him his own department (DOGE) tasked with reducing governmental waste.
Musk remains the world’s richest man, but according to Fortune, his net worth was buoyed by Tesla’s growth (up around 37%) and success at SpaceX.
Speaking of SpaceX, Musk’s rocket company continued to push the boundaries of space exploration technology with the sixth flight test of Starship last month. At the same time, its Polaris Dawn mission saw the world’s first privately funded spacewalk.
With Trump due to return to power in January, this year could just be one small step for his billionaire best friend.
As we already mentioned, not everything went Elon Musk’s way, and our final tech triumph in 2024 is for a company that tried to capitalise on — and seemingly succeeded in — some of Musk’s misfortunes.
Elon may be looking beyond the clouds with his space exploration, but it’d be remiss to ignore the sky… Bluesky, that is.
Created in 2019 by founder Jack Dorsey, previously of Twitter, Bluesky has quickly become the alternative microblogging platform to Musk’s X — or the home of the ex-Xers, so to speak.
Bluesky launched as an invite-only service in February 2023 and opened registrations in February 2024. However, the platform’s growth skyrocketed around the US Presidential Election as users sought an alternative to X.
Today, Bluesky has around 25 million registered users and has more than tripled its user base within the last three months.
Though it is still way behind the former Twitter’s estimated 600 million monthly users, Bluesky could position itself as a true alternative to Elon Musk’s platform in a way that previous rivals, such as Threads, have failed.
You’ve read about the tops, now read the bottoms: the top tech turkeys of 2024!
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