AI's shift will impact everything—from product development to workplace tools and customer service platforms
Drought, extreme heat, pollution, flooding — the urgency of sustainable lifestyles to address human-induced climate change seen in 2024 is palpable. Simultaneously, everyday life is ever more marked by digital technologies. Smart homes simplify various domestic tasks and even promise optimized energy consumption in private households. Major industry players hunt for digital technologies to reduce emissions and attain sustainability targets. Consumer technologies are all around us. Here are five ways they will impact our lives in the coming year:
1. AI becoming omnipresent
AI will define innovation in 2025. It will spread its promise of more innovative and more valuable devices and solutions than existing ones. The shift will impact everything—from product development to workplace tools and customer service platforms. It is not entirely surprising. AI is perhaps the biggest creativity in business history. Over $1trn has been spent on AI data centres, even as companies still grapple with using it, while adoption rates are low (data on workers using it is incomplete). Will investors continue to pour money into AI? Will AI-developed drugs, for example, emerge? Will it sustain a clean-tech boom? The energy sector and how AI can support efforts towards climate action comes to mind. China’s government has encouraged successful solar panels, batteries and electric vehicle exports to enliven a struggling domestic economy. The Chinese-led clean-tech boom is outstripping forecasts through the adoption of solar panels and grid storage. We want everyone to benefit. What an incredible story it would be if AI could help reduce global emissions and achieve progress towards achieving the Paris Agreement. For that to come full circle, for example, what communities need between Elon Musk’s potential AI startup (that promises to make autonomous cars, robotaxis and humanoid robots) and Sam Altman’s OpenAI is complementarity not an intense fight.
2. IoT revolutionizing healthcare
IoT in healthcare will redefine how medical professionals monitor, diagnose, and treat patients. By linking devices, sensors, and systems, IoT technology in healthcare would deliver smarter, more efficient, and person-centered care that will improve patient outcomes and streamline operations. We’ve recently seen smart healthcare devices like fitness trackers and remote monitoring tools, for example. The market for these products will continue to grow in 2025. Moreover, we’ll see them becoming smarter – capable of predicting and even diagnosing conditions, instead of simply monitoring basic health metrics. Innovations like the ECG and blood oxygen sensors on smartwatches can inspire other devices offering knowledge based on genetic or gut microbiome data, which, when added to telehealth and virtual healthcare services, will help yield truly personalized wellness experiences. As healthcare systems around the world recover from the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic and evolve to meet the demands of a young or aging population, IoT will play an increasing role in improving healthcare efficiency and accessibility. Expect IoT technology in healthcare in 2025 to be pivotal in enabling a more patient-centric approach by allowing healthcare providers to offer personalized treatments, monitor patient conditions on-site or remotely; more importantly, prevent health complications before they arise.
3. 3D printing transforming construction
Do you know the home of the world’s first 3D-printed school? It’s not the United States, China, or Japan, but Malawi and Madagascar. Africa is gaining traction for digital transformation in the construction industry. The example of 14Trees fascinates. An Africa-founded joint venture between Holcim and British International Investment, it is revolutionizing the construction industry through 3D printing technology. In just 18 hours, it printed the walls to build new schools in Malawi and Madagascar and continues to scale into more construction markets, such as building a 52-house complex in Kenya. You can only understand the impact of this in Malawi when you recall that using only conventional methods would take 70 years to build the classrooms that UNICEF estimates are needed to meet the current classroom shortage in this country. Solutions-driven, 14Trees says 3D technology can fill this gap in 10 years. With African cities growing by more than 160 million inhabitants between 2015 and 2023, and urbanization rates expected to hit 60% by 2050, this is good news for the continent. This rising demand brings challenges requiring a mobilization of $100 billion per year. However, augmented reality supports urban planning, while 3D printing, blockchain and AI assist in streamlining construction contracting and building design. Also, IoT and sensor technologies monitor energy usage and enable building energy-efficient buildings. “IoT and AI together can help improve economies through long-term cost savings, improve health through better air quality and lighting, reduce environmental impacts by lowering energy consumption, and improve urban development through more efficient land use.”
“IoT and AI together can help improve economies through long-term cost savings, improve health through better air quality and lighting, reduce environmental impacts by lowering energy consumption, and improve urban development through more efficient land use.”
— The Brookings
4. Fintech empowering more populations
Bitcoin was up by 138% in 2024 and the link between digital assets and mainstream finance will even be stronger in 2025. But the fintech story I’m mostly enthused about is one of the biggest success stories out of East Africa: M-PESA. A Nairobi taxi driver taking me Two Rivers discussed this mobile payment system that has revolutionized financial services across East Africa. Just as Venmo and Zelle are household names in the United States, for example, M-PESA has quietly led a financial revolution across Africa for over a decade. M-PESA means “mobile money” in Swahili; it was launched in Kenya in 2007 by the mobile network operator Safaricom, targeting the unbanked. A survey in 2006 found that under 20% of Kenyan adults had a bank account, while over half owned or had access to a cellphone. Seventeen years later, M-PESA reports over 66 million users, of which are taxi drivers, and processes 33 billion transactions annually. Furthermore, its success goes beyond Kenya. It has expanded to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ghana, and, lately, Ethiopia. Expect more from this platform.
5. Micro-mobility spreading to more cities
In recent years, micro-vehicles such as e-bikes, scooters and compact EVs have exploded in the international markets. In 2025, expect more of them to get smarter, more user-friendly, and more integrated into urban life. Longer battery life and innovations like smartphone integration will bring real-time route optimization and GPS functionality, and the vehicles will continue to become more convenient and affordable. This means micro-mobility will be an increasingly prominent trend as our approach to commuting, living locally, and day-to-day transport in urban areas evolves. The consumer technology landscape of 2025 promises to be more personal, sustainable, and inclusive. While AI emerges as the driving force behind many of these innovations, understanding these trends isn’t just important for consumer tech manufacturers – it’s crucial for every business. As consumer expectations evolve, these technological advancements will inevitably influence workplace technology demands, with employees expecting the same personalization, sustainability, and AI-powered convenience they experience in their personal lives. Companies that stay ahead of these consumer tech trends will be better positioned to attract talent, meet changing employee expectations, and maintain competitive advantage in an increasingly tech-driven marketplace. The future of consumer tech isn’t just about smarter devices; it’s about understanding and adapting to fundamental shifts in how people expect to interact with technology - at home and in the workplace.
I4RAI advances AI for community empowerment.
