From password-free email accounts to medicine made from DNA: IBM reveals its five predictions for our world in 2018
- In five years, IBM predicts cancer will be individually treated at a DNA level
- Buying local will overtake online shopping as same-day delivery improves
- ‘Smart’ classrooms will identify dyslexia and other disorders immediately
- Passwords will be replaced with devices that learn to identify people
- Governments will also be able to use data in real-time to help develop cities
In the very near future there will be machines that act just like humans, doctors will be able to eradicate cancers using your DNA and the password will finally die a death.
That’s according to predictions from tech experts at IBM.
The firm’s annual 5 in 5 report, which looks ahead at technology trends has, this year, focused on the development of smarter computers, phones and other machines.
It predicts that ‘everything will learn’ from the data we store online, what websites we visit, where we go and how we act – and this information will be used for good, and not just for advertising purposes
In its annual 5 in 5 report, IBM has predicted that in the next five years, ‘everything will learn’. For example, rather than having passwords, applications will be able to talk to each other to give and learn who a person is. It can then immediately identify unusual or suspicious behaviour and prevent identity theft
WHAT ARE IBM PREDICTIONS?
According to the annual IBM 5 in 5 report, in the next five years:
The classroom will learn you – smarter classrooms will use cloud data to learn about students and identify learning disorders immediately
Buying local will beat online – shops will combine the convenience of online shopping in physical stores and same-day delivery will improve.
Doctors will routinely use your DNA to keep you well– By using advancements in DNA research, doctors will be able to uniquely identify how a certain cancer or disease will affect a person. Treatments and medications will become more tailored and waiting times will drop.
A digital guardian will protect you online – Passwords will be replaced by devices that learn who a person is, how they behave and what sites they use. They will grant access automatically to that person, but also be able to identify unusual or suspicious activity automatically.
The city will help you live in it – Governments will be able to use data about its residents movements, needs and more to improve cities and towns, including schools and transport routes.
The report then breaks down the predictions into five categories and predicts that each of them will happen by 2018.
For example, in five years, IBM predicts ‘security is going to become more agile’.
Rather than having passwords for different devices, sites and sevices, all of these applications will be able to talk to each other to give a ‘360-degree view of a person’s data and movements.’ This means these devices will just know who someone is, without that person ever having to identify themselves.
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