World Economic Forum 2025: Why AI Will Be This Year’s Biggest Tech Shift

One of the five key themes of the 2025 World Economic Forum (WEF) focuses on how companies can balance short-term goals and long-term imperatives as they transform. This year, that transformation, for most, is about the impact of artificial intelligence on business practices – and indeed on everyday life.

AI technology is advancing at an extraordinary pace, with Agentic AI now pushing the boundaries of what is possible, and artificial general intelligence potentially just around the corner.

Here are just five ways AI is already revolutionizing business:

1. Automating routine tasks: AI can automate repetitive and mundane tasks, freeing up employees to focus on strategic activities. For example, chatbots can now handle customer service inquiries, while AI algorithms can manage inventory and supply chain logistics.

2. Enhanced decision-making: AI can analyze vast amounts of data quickly, identifying patterns not immediately obvious to humans. This allows businesses to make data-driven decisions, improving strategies in areas like marketing, finance, and operations.

3. Predictive analytics: AI tools can forecast trends and behaviors by analyzing historical data. Businesses can use this information to anticipate customer needs, manage inventory more effectively, and drive sales strategies.

4. Personalization and improved customer experiences: Through natural language processing and machine learning, AI can provide personalized experiences for customers by analyzing their behavior and preferences. It can then enhance customer interactions by providing faster, more relevant responses and personalized content, leading to improved customer satisfaction.

5. Cost Efficiency: By optimizing operations and reducing waste through predictive maintenance and efficient resource management, AI can help businesses lower costs and improve profitability.

Businesses must adapt to the new AI reality to survive

As noted by the WEF, over the years “industries have had to adapt their business strategies to account for major geo-economic and technological shifts.” But embedding AI technology and practices into their existing company structures represents a fast-evolving challenge. Organizations need to form coherent strategies and make a real investment in these changes in order to future-proof their operations and thrive – knowing that their competitors will almost certainly be doing the same.

The importance of this investment in AI has been made clear already in 2025 with the announcement on 13th January, by the UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, of the UK Government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan. The stated aim of this plan is to use AI to “deliver a decade of national renewal.”

The UK plan has four key aims:

• AI will drive the Plan for Change, helping turbocharge growth and boost living standards.
• Public sector to spend less time doing admin and more time delivering the services working people rely on.
• Dedicated AI Growth Zones will be set-up to speed up planning for AI infrastructure.
• £14 billion and 13,250 jobs committed by private leading tech firms following AI Action Plan.

If national governments (not always known for trusting technology) are making these significant plans and investments, businesses will absolutely have to do the same.

Supercharging economies, businesses and people

The need to incorporate AI into many more aspects of public services, business infrastructure, and life in general, has been echoed by Synechron Head of AI, Ryan Cox. Commenting on the UK Government’s AI plan, Intelligent CIO report Cox as saying: “The potential of the UK government’s AI policy to drive innovation is clearly an exciting development. With the correct support, AI has the scope to supercharge the country’s economy, businesses and people. Prioritizing digital transformation using AI will help speed positive societal changes.

In our own work with AI, both with employees and clients, we’ve seen AI significantly streamline operations, which is a harbinger of what is to come for other companies, government departments, and institutions.”

Environmental repercussions: Will data centers be the biggest challenge for AI in 2025?

But, the surge in demand for AI across the world does bring challenges. The Synechron article, Will Data Centers be the Biggest Challenge for AI in 2025? discusses growing demand for the data that informs the large language models that drive AI – meaning that energy-hungry data centers, packed with processors, must be built to fuel the expansion. Barclays Research backs this up, suggesting that AI requirements will more than double data center electricity needs by 2030 (based on current grid capacity).

So, with climate change at the front of everyone’s minds, how can businesses frame the AI race as something that justifies this jump in energy consumption? Establishing coherent messaging around the environmental effects of AI will be crucial for any business or organization adopting the technology this year.

Finding the right balance

AI is set to revolutionize how businesses operate, enabling them to be more efficient, responsive, and customer-centric. A report last year by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) suggested that “AI will affect almost 40 percent of jobs around the world, replacing some and complementing others.” Importantly, the report further states that “we need a careful balance of policies to tap its potential.”

Finding this balance will be key for businesses looking to exploit the potential of AI while at the same time retaining the human expertise that complements it. AI can do many things, but it cannot replicate human soft skills like emotional intelligence, relationship building and judgement. Businesses need to bring their people along for the AI adoption journey – realizing what it can and cannot currently do, and implement it accordingly – with sensitivity and with one eye firmly on the future.