As we bid adieu to the whirlwind year of 2024, it’s essential to take stock of the groundbreaking tech stories that have shaped our understanding of AI and its applications. In no particular order, here are the top 10 tech articles of the past year that caught my attention.
Firstly, “AI and The Last Mile” by Ethan Mollick highlights the paradoxical nature of scaling laws in AI development. This insightful piece reveals that increasing model size is not always the solution; instead, we may be on the cusp of a new era where larger models can think more critically. Moreover, I’m reminded of Tarun Khanna, Mary C. Beckerle, and Nabil Y. Sakkab’s compelling argument in “Boards Need a New Approach to Technology” that corporate boards must transform their approach to technology, shifting from defense to proactively identifying new opportunities.
As we navigate the complexities of cloud computing, it became clear that many IT leaders were reevaluating their strategies. Mary K. Pratt’s “The Great Repatriation? IT Leaders Reset Cloud Strategies to Optimize Value” shed light on this crucial shift, where companies are now migrating select workloads from public clouds back to on-premises environments, driven by concerns over costs, data privacy, and compliance.
While the year started with a bang, Ashley Stewart’s “Bill Gates Never Left” revealed the surprising extent of his influence at Microsoft, underscoring the critical role he played in shaping AI strategy. Meanwhile, Benedict Evans’ thought-provoking piece, “Looking for AI Use-Cases,” offered valuable insights into the challenges AI adoption faces.
The latter part of the year brought a stark reminder of the importance of security with Eva Dou and Gerrit De Vynck’s report on the devastating pager attack in Lebanon, which exposed critical vulnerabilities in global electronics supply chains. This event serves as a wake-up call for organizations to rethink their approach to securing modern electronics against adversaries.
As we reflect on 2024, it’s clear that this year has been marked by significant advancements and challenges alike. It is essential that we heed the lessons of Y2K and CrowdStrike’s software update failure, which Zachary Loeb aptly captured in “Y2K Sent A Warning. The CrowdStrike Outage Shows We Failed to Heed It.”
Source: www.forbes.com