2025 Predictions and Realities IV
Thoughts by Ceaser Siwale
The Impact of AI
Prediction: Artificial intelligence is predicted to revolutionise industries, enhance productivity, and create global economic opportunities.
Reality: While AI has delivered breakthroughs in automation, healthcare, and finance, its implementation has highlighted stark inequalities. Advanced economies are reaping the benefits while developing nations face infrastructure, talent acquisition, and data access challenges. AI’s influence on job markets is double-edged: It creates new roles and displaces traditional ones, requiring significant investment in reskilling and education. Ethical concerns around bias, surveillance, and data security remain unresolved, complicating global acceptance.
Beyond its sectoral impact, AI influences nearly every category in this article. In EV production, AI optimises supply chains and improves battery technologies. AI enhances grid management and forecasts weather patterns in renewable energy to maximise efficiency. In agriculture, AI-driven analytics are essential for climate adaptation, while in finance, they power Bitcoin trading platforms and ESG compliance tools. AI’s transformative potential is vast, but its implementation must be equitable to avoid exacerbating global inequalities.
Store of Wealth and Transaction Medium
Prediction: By 2025, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are expected to mature into widely accepted stores of value and mediums of exchange, competing with traditional financial systems.
Reality: Bitcoin continues to gain traction as a hedge against inflation and an alternative to traditional currencies in countries facing economic instability. However, its adoption as a mainstream transaction medium remains limited due to volatility, regulatory uncertainty, and environmental concerns over energy-intensive mining processes. Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are emerging as a competing technology, offering stability and government backing while limiting Bitcoin’s disruptive potential.
Copper: A Critical Mineral for the Future
Prediction: Copper demand is projected to soar, driven by its essential role in EVs, renewable energy systems, and digital infrastructure.
Reality: Copper remains a linchpin of the green energy transition, but supply challenges persist. Major producers like Chile and Zambia face ageing mines, political instability, and logistical inefficiencies. Africa’s vast, untapped reserves hold promise but require significant investment in mining technology and infrastructure. As copper prices rise, the metal’s strategic importance is reshaping geopolitics, with nations vying for control over its supply chains.
