2024 has been a very significant year for the tech industry characterized by two polarizing phenomena. On one side there emerged record progress in artificial intelligence (AI), smart technologies was growing rapidly and quantum computing was kept its position an innovative unsettled technology.
On the other hand, the year also witnessed other strange trends in tech including an unexpected boom in cryptocurrencies and the Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, implementing nearly every idea that he could get in his head.
Here are the top 10 technological highlights of 2024—whether promisingly positive or discouragingly negative:
Top 10 Tech Highlights of 2024: AI, Brain Chips & More
1. Generative AI
This makes 2024 the year of real-world AI as generative AI programs such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot became very popular. Indeed, considering previous generations of AI, we encountered some peculiar issues, such as generating nonsensical text or unrealistic images that depicted absurd scenes (as a hand with twelve fingers), and many of these obstacles are no longer a problem.
They now perform medical and legal tests, create entire podcasts from a user request, and even help in autism therapies. Nevertheless, risks arise concerning the application of AI affecting industries such as, widespread dismissal of employees and abuse of deep fake technology. And as the year 2025 draws closer, possibilities of ‘smart’ robots and machines controlled by artificial intelligence and the following annulments are even further broadened.
2. Assistive Technology
It was a year in which progress in assistive tech was made but remained largely unheralded. CES 2024 showcases were some of the following inventions: A glove sensing hand tremors, a belt assisting the blind to navigate and smart glasses that translate text.
Other projects included hand flexibility through the prosthetic finger, designed by Cambridge University, or sensory jackets provided by Not Impossible Labs for the hearing impaired to feel rhythms during concerts. These are the prospects that are to change the subject of accessibility in the future.
3. Brain Chips
It would presume science fiction in the past became a dream in reality in the year 2024 when Neuralink successfully completed the implantation of brain chips. These chips encode the brain activity into signals comprehensible by computers or prostheses.
For instance the first patient to have a Neuralink chip performed computer control and played chess by merely thinking. Some other innovations are writing text from brain activity for ALS individuals and the headphones which decode useful data from a brain wave. These technologies have the potential of changing the face of medical tech.
4. Modernized Classic Devices
Retro-tech returned in 2024; Kodak copied their Super 8 models of the past and cassette players were updated; portable gaming consoles like Analogue. These remakes proved to give society what people remember from the original, albeit with today’s usefulness.
5. AI Assistants
After AI’s release, industry competitors scrambled to create new “AI assistants” – wearable gadgets that claimed to be the next generation of smartphones. However, many of these experiments did not succeed; Humane’s AI Pin had issues with performing its purported functions, while Rabbit R1 never operated at all. Still, although there are new releases every now and then, such devices haven’t achieved the efficiency required for wider acceptance.
6. Cryptocurrencies
Of course, the cryptocurrency industry did not lack controversy in 2024, even as cryptocurrencies reached unbelievable heights. One of the shocking projects was Worldcoin, created by OpenAI head Sam Altman, which provided individuals with coins with the help of special devices in exchange for giving their iris scan. More than 17 million people downvoted it, building a biometric database across the globe; therefore, this crypto experiment is one of the most peculiar to date.
7. Tesla Cybertruck
The Cybertruck from Tesla had quite a lot of problems in 2024 agiode Of all the long-overdue products that Tesla has been hyping up to date, the Cybertruck faced quite a lot of problems in 2024. Submissions of it being practically ‘bulletproof’ had users struggling with it getting stuck in sand and snow and it rusting even though it boasts a stainless steel exterior, having windows shattered and a slow delay of camera feedback. This vehicle was recall five times; the problems are lingering design issues and software bugs.
8. Humanoid Robots
Recent development in artificial intelligence makes humanoid robots realistic. Tesla’s Optimus robot was unveiled in 2024, aimed at performing tasks, responding to people and being Human like in design. Despite all this, humanoid robots are not nearly as advanced as most people would like, but their evolution is moving forward rapidly.
9. Deepfake Technology
Deepfake tech progressed to the next level, where people could entirely fake videos of politicians, actors, friends, and even celebrities. Initially, deepfakes were very recognizable hence easily identifiable while today’s deepfake are completely indistinguishable prompting problems of fake news, identity theft among others.
10. Smart Glasses
Smart glasses become popular earlier in 2024 whereby Vision Pro costing $3,500 challenged Meta Quest 3. But problems, such as higher prices, discomfort in the eyes, and customer discontent resulted in low sales. Alas this paradigm did not materialized, then what about Smart Glasses in 2025, still smart glasses might come back up next with new prospects.
