Gartner has unveiled its top 10 strategic technology trends for 2025, with a strong emphasis on artificial intelligence.
“This year’s strategic technology trends cover AI imperatives and risks, new computing frontiers, and the synergy between humans and machines,” said Gene Alvarez, Vice President Analyst at Gartner, in a statement. “Keeping track of these trends will enable IT leaders to shape their organizations’ future responsibly and ethically.”
Leading the list are Agentic AI systems, designed to autonomously plan and execute actions based on user-defined goals. Gartner projects that by 2028, at least 15% of daily work decisions will be made autonomously through Agentic AI, up from none in 2024.
“Agentic AI is undoubtedly the future of the workforce,” said Ambuj Kumar, founder of Simbian, a Mountain View, Calif.-based provider of autonomous AI agents for cybersecurity.
“In a field like cybersecurity, where there’s a 3.5 million worker shortage, employees are overworked, and continuous learning about new threats is essential, the appeal of virtual employees who are always up-to-date, cost a fraction of human labor, work round-the-clock, and can be scaled to match business needs is undeniable,” he told TechNewsWorld. “That’s the potential of AI Agents.”
Challenges Facing Agentic AI
However, reaching the level of adoption Gartner predicts will require overcoming some obstacles. “Developing effective Agentic AI systems is still in the experimental phase,” noted Sandi Besen, an applied AI researcher at IBM and Neudesic.
“As AI engineers and solution architects continue to refine their techniques, the field will mature,” she explained.
“Different frameworks take distinct approaches to Agentic AI. For example, popular frameworks like LangChain and Autogen rely heavily on language models, whereas others, like LangGraph, incorporate AI agents into more structured workflows. The design and adaptability of these systems are crucial, and we’ll likely see a mix of successes and failures before best practices emerge.”
Besen added, “The adoption rate among businesses will also play a significant role in the scalability and long-term success of Agentic AI.”
As AI technology progresses, it offers the potential to boost productivity and offer workers innovative problem-solving tools, said Jennifer Huddleston, a technology policy fellow at the Cato Institute.
“AI’s benefits will vary by industry and role. Some impacts will be major and industry-specific, while others will be more subtle,” she shared with TechNewsWorld. “It’s crucial that policy allows industries and technology to explore solutions freely, instead of trying to anticipate every possible use case.”
AI Governance Platforms
Gartner also advised organizations to consider adopting AI governance platforms. These platforms can help create, manage, and enforce responsible AI policies, providing transparency into AI system operations and building trust through accountability, Gartner explained.
According to Gartner, by 2028, organizations with comprehensive AI governance platforms are expected to see 40% fewer ethical incidents related to AI compared to those without such measures.
“AI governance is essential for reducing ethical incidents by providing structured oversight and accountability in AI development and use,” said Mark N. Vena, president and principal analyst at SmartTech Research in Las Vegas.
“With well-defined policies and frameworks, organizations can align AI systems with ethical standards such as fairness, transparency, and non-bias,” he told TechNewsWorld.
Governance platforms also enable the monitoring and auditing of AI behavior, making it easier to identify and mitigate potential risks early on, Vena added. “Without governance, organizations are at higher risk for issues like discriminatory outcomes, privacy breaches, and regulatory violations.”
Tackling Disinformation
Gartner also forecasts that more organizations will begin addressing disinformation security. By 2028, it expects 50% of enterprises to adopt products or services specifically designed to tackle disinformation, a significant increase from less than 5% today.
“Disinformation leads to poor decisions, which can be particularly problematic for AI,” said Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst at the Enderle Group, an advisory firm in Bend, Oregon.
“AIs process information rapidly, so once disinformation is factored in, human intervention to correct decisions becomes nearly impossible,” he told TechNewsWorld. “Solving disinformation is even more critical for AI than it is for humans.”
Vena noted that disinformation can damage an organization’s reputation, spread distrust, and potentially lead to financial losses if it disrupts operations or affects stock prices.
“Disinformation can also create security risks by manipulating employees, which could lead to poor decision-making or vulnerability to social engineering attacks,” he added.
Post-Quantum Cryptography
Post-quantum cryptography is another area organizations need to consider for 2025. Quantum computing is expected to compromise many current cryptographic methods, Gartner noted, predicting that by 2029, most conventional asymmetric cryptography will be rendered insecure by advances in quantum computing.
“I agree with Gartner’s prediction,” said Florian Neukart, chief product officer at Terra Quantum, a quantum-as-a-service provider in St. Gallen, Switzerland.
“The 2029 timeline is realistic, given the rapid pace of quantum computing advancements,” he told TechNewsWorld. “Traditional asymmetric cryptography, like RSA and ECC, is vulnerable to quantum attacks, such as Shor’s algorithm, which could break these systems. Organizations should begin the transition to post-quantum cryptography now to ensure data security in a quantum-enabled future.”
Duncan Jones, head of cybersecurity at Quantinuum, a global quantum computing company, emphasized the urgency of this transition. “The key date is when organizations need to take this threat seriously,” he told TechNewsWorld. “And that time has already arrived.”
Neuromancer by 2030?
Gartner has highlighted neurological enhancement as a strategic technology with major potential in three areas: human upskilling, advanced marketing, and performance improvement. Neurological enhancement could amplify cognitive abilities, allow brands to better understand consumer thoughts and emotions, and boost human neural capabilities to optimize results.
Gartner predicts that by 2030, 30% of knowledge workers could be augmented and reliant on technologies like bidirectional brain-machine interfaces. However, Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst at the Enderle Group, expressed doubts about this timeline.
“Currently, the technology is very limited and requires significant training just to interpret brain signals, which isn’t scalable,” he said.
“Feeding information back into the brain hasn’t been fully developed yet, at least not publicly,” he added. “With the current pace of progress, I’m skeptical of the 2030 prediction.”
Nevertheless, Enderle acknowledged that rapid advancements in AI are accelerating development in this area. “While this forecast might seem ambitious, it’s not entirely out of reach given the momentum AI is creating,” he noted.
“When we reach the point where information can flow both ways between the brain and these interfaces, that could be the true onset of the Singularity. But given the present state of the technology, any timeline is still speculative.”
Other Strategic Technologies in Gartner’s Forecast
Gartner also highlighted other transformative technologies to watch:
- Ambient Invisible Intelligence: Ultra-low-cost, small smart tags and sensors will enable deeper integration of sensing and intelligence into everyday life.
- Energy-Efficient Computing: By the late 2020s, new compute technologies — like optical, neuromorphic, and advanced accelerators — are expected to emerge for specialized tasks, such as AI and optimization, drastically reducing energy consumption.
- Hybrid Computing Environments: The growth of hybrid computing will support high-efficiency, innovative environments that outperform conventional setups.
- Spatial Computing: Augmented and virtual reality are set to expand significantly, with projections estimating a $1.7 trillion market by 2033.
- Polyfunctional Robots: By 2030, 80% of people are expected to interact daily with versatile robots capable of performing multiple tasks simultaneously.
These trends represent a vision of the future that increasingly intertwines human experience with intelligent technology.
