It’s my job as a futurist to see the future. Each year, I report on the emerging tech trends that will shape our digital world over the next twelve months.

Which technologies are most popular? What are the top trends business leaders need to be aware of?

1. Artificial Intelligence Everywhere

Artificial intelligence will be a reality in 2023. With its intuitive drag-and-drop interfaces and no-code AI, any business can leverage its power to create intelligent products or services.

This trend is already being seen in the retail sector. Stitch Fix makes use of AI-enabled algorithms that recommend clothing to customers that fit their needs and sizes.

For 2023, contactless, autonomous shopping will be big. AI will make it easier to purchase and receive goods or services.

AI will be used to augment almost every job across all industries. More retailers will use AI to manage and automate the complex inventory management processes that happen behind the scenes, so convenience trends like buy-online-pickup-at-curbside (BOPAC), buy-online-pickup-in-store (BOPIS), and buy-online-return-in-store (BORIS), will become standard.

The latest autonomous delivery initiatives retailers are testing and rolling out will be powered by AI. Retail workers will have to learn to work alongside the machines in order to succeed.

2. Parts of the Metaverse will become real

Although I don’t care much for the term “metaverse”, it has become a shorthand for an immersive internet that allows us to play, work, and socialize on a persistent platform.

Experts predict that $5 trillion will be added to the global economy by 2030 from the metaverse, and that 2023 will be the year that will determine the direction of metaverse in the next ten years.

Technology in Augmented Reality (AR) as well as virtual reality (VR), will continue to improve. The work environment in the metaverse is something to be on the lookout for — I predict that in 2023 we will have more immersive meeting spaces where we can brainstorm, collaborate, and talk.

Nvidia and Microsoft are actually already working on metaverse platforms to collaborate on digital projects.

In the new year, we’ll see advanced avatar technology. A virtual avatar, which is the avatar we project to others in the metaverse, could look very similar to us in real life. Motion capture will allow our avatars even to mimic our body language and gestures.

There may be further developments in AI-enabled autonomous avatars, which can act as our representatives in metaverse even if we aren’t logged in to the digital world.

Already, companies are using metaverse technology such as AR and VR for training and onboarding. This trend is expected to accelerate in 2023. Accenture, a consulting giant, has created the Nth Floor metaverse environment. The virtual world is based on replicas of real Accenture offices so that new employees and existing employees can perform HR-related tasks from a virtual location.

3. Web3 Progress

As companies develop more decentralized products, blockchain technology will continue to advance in 2023.

We store everything currently in the cloud. But if we decentralize storage and encrypt data using blockchain, not only will our data be safer but we’ll also have new ways to access it and analyze it.

In the new year, non-fungible tokens will be more practical and usable. NFT tickets for concerts, for example, could give you access backstage experiences and memorabilia. These keys could be used to access many digital products and services, or they could be contracts that we make with other parties.

4. Connecting the Digital and Physical World

Already, we are seeing a bridge between digital and physical worlds. This trend will continue into 2023. This merger consists of two components: 3D printing and digital twin technology.

Digital twins allow you to simulate real-world operations and products in order to test your ideas in a digital environment. Engineers and designers use digital twins to create physical objects in virtual worlds. This allows them to test their ideas under all possible conditions without having to pay for real-life experiments. We will see more digital twins in 2023, from factories and machinery to cars and precision healthcare.

Engineers can modify and tweak components in the virtual environment before creating them in the real-world using 3D printing technology.

Formula 1 teams collect data from sensors that are used during races. They also track weather conditions and temperature to determine how cars react during races. They then stream data from sensors to digital twins for the engines and car parts and run scenarios to make design adjustments on the fly. Based on their testing, the teams 3D-print car parts.

5. Nature is becoming more editable

The world we live in will allow us to make changes to materials, plants, and humans by editing them. We will be able to create new materials using nanotechnology, including self-healing and water resistance.

Although CRISPR-Cas9 is a technology that has been around for some time, we will see gene editing technology advance in 2023 to allow us to “edit nature” through altering DNA.

Gene editing is a little like word processing. You can take out words and add them in, but it can also be done with genes. Gene editing can be used for correcting DNA mutations, solving the problem of food allergies and increasing the health of crops. It can also be used to edit human characteristics such as eye color or hair color.

6. Quantum Progress

There is an international race right now to create quantum computing at scale.

Quantum computing is a breakthrough technology that uses subatomic particles to create new methods of processing information. It’s predicted to make computers capable of running a trillion times faster than traditional processors.

Quantum computing could make our existing encryption methods obsolete. Any nation that creates quantum computing on a large scale could also break encryption used by other countries, businesses, and security systems. This is an area to be aware of in 2023, as countries such as the US, UK and China invest heavily in quantum computing technology.