McKinsey’s latest analysis of 15 core technology trends points to a new “influencer” role for generative AI as well as growing interest in robotics and digital trust.

Lucia Rahilly and Roberta Fusaro

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The state of technology

Roberta Fusaro: This is the fourth year in a row that McKinsey has released its outlook on technology trends. The research covers 15 trends, including advanced connectivity, cloud and edge computing, quantum computing, generative AI [gen AI], and applied AI. What parameters did you use for this research?

Roger Roberts: We look at several different dimensions. One, we look at innovation. So we try to assess how much innovation is happening in each trend. Then we look at interest, which tries to assess the volume and depth of dialogue that’s happening about each of these trends in the world. And then we look at investment—how much money is flowing into the companies and technologies that are enabling and driving the trends.

Roberta Fusaro: According to the latest research, innovation and overall interest in technology remains strong, although investment in new technology did fall. Lareina, what accounts for these findings?

Lareina Yee: In many ways, that’s not surprising. We are in a golden age of innovation and possibility in terms of technology. The drop in investment was between 30 percent and 40 percent, which is about $570 billion. What’s interesting is that, despite that drop in investment, we do see that there are pockets amongst the trends that are continuing to see a rise in investment. To no surprise, an example of this is gen AI. But what might be less expected is in areas such as robotics, as well as in climate and sustainability technology.